Recount requested in North Carolina appellate court race
December 9, 2010
North Carolina: Now that the final votes are counted, challenger Doug McCullough is leading incumbent Cressie Thigpen by about 6,000 votes in the race for a seat on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. In order to determine the results of a twelve-way race, the state used Instant Runoff Voting for the first time ever in this year's general election.[1]
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) simulates a primary and general election on one ballot. When voting on election day, North Carolinians could select up to three judges for the seat; separated into first, second and third choices. Since no candidate won the first choice outright, receiving more than 50% of votes, the votes in the second and third choice columns are added together. Whichever candidate received the highest total votes won the election.[2]
The results were released Tuesday, over one month after the general election occurred. The next day, Thigpen announced his request for a recount, which is permissible within a margin of 10,000 votes. The final results will now only become official following next week's recounting of the votes.[3][4]
UPDATE: The recount confirmed Doug McCullough's victory.[5]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ News & Record, "McCullough overtakes Thigpen in N.C. court race," December 6, 2010
- ↑ North Carolina Canter for Voter Education, "Instant Runoff Voting: 1, 2, 3"
- ↑ Daily Reporter, "With county canvass complete, Thigpen to ask for re-count in vote for NC Court of Appeals seat," December 7, 2010
- ↑ TheSunNews.com, "Instant runoff voting county continues in NC," November 29, 2010
- ↑ New Observer, "Thigpen concedes court seat," December 21, 2010
