Elections officials around the state have started the second phase of vote counting in a Court of Appeals race.
One of this year’s Court of Appeals races is the first statewide contest in the US to use instant runoff voting. In the general election, voters chose a first, second, and third choice from a field of 13 candidates. Cressie Thigpen and Doug McCullough were the top two winners as first choice.
Starting today, elections officials are sorting through ballots on which the first choice was someone else. Deputy state Elections Director Johnnie McLean:
"Then the votes for each of the two candidates as second or third choices is then added to the first choice votes, and the winner will be determined from that total."
The race is officially non-partisan, but McCullough was endorsed by Republicans while Thigpen was endorsed by Democrats. Thigpen held a hundred thousand vote lead after the first round. Final results must be certified by next Tuesday.