Chatham Board of Elections certifies primary results

By VICTORIA JOHNSON

The Chatham County Board of Elections’ post-election “canvass” process didn’t see any changes to the outcomes of Chatham County’s 2022 primary elections, held on May 17, according to Chatham County Board of Elections Director Pandora Paschal.

The board met at 11 a.m. Friday inside the county elections office in Pittsboro to certify the primary and municipal election results after reviewing all provisional votes and absentee ballots the day before.

“Now, we did have some provisionals that were counted and also some supplemental absentee ballots. … And then we added those vote totals to the final count, and then the election was made official at canvass on Friday,” Paschal told the News & Record. “ … It didn’t affect the outcome of the election, or make anybody close to getting a recount or anything like that.”

Following every election, county election officials must, by law, hold a “canvass” meeting to compile and certify election results from all precincts, after carrying out several “audits” designed to ensure the integrity of all votes.

“Basically, what it’s about is it’s finalizing the election from the time polls close on Election Day — that is the unofficial results that you get on Election Night,” Paschal said. “And then that means that we’re still waiting to do the provisionals, we’re waiting on the supplemental absentees to come in and also we’re auditing the precincts to make sure that the total ballots cast equal the total amount of people that have voted.”

For more information, including board meeting times, visit the Chatham County Board of Elections’ website at bit.ly/3abAJ3Q.