Mecklenburg Elections director Michael Dickerson said Thursday he’s still counting more than 120 absentee mail-in ballots for the North Carolina House District 103 race between Republican incumbent Bill Brawley and Democrat Rachel Hunt.
Brawley currently leads Hunt by 52 votes out of nearly 38,000 votes cast. Hunt has not conceded the race, and said she’s waiting for all votes to be counted.
Dickerson said more absentee ballots may be counted, so long as they were postmarked on Election Day and received by 5 p.m. Friday.
Republicans hold six state House and Senate seats in Mecklenburg. The Democratic Party poured money and resources into the races, in an attempt to break the GOP's supermajority in the General Assembly.
Democrats defeated four of those incumbents: Jeff Tarte lost to Natasha Marcus in Senate District 41; Andy Dulin lost to Brandon Lofton in House District 103; Scott Stone fell to Wesley Harris in House District 105; and John Bradford lost to Christy Clark in House District 98.
Republican Dan Bishop held onto his Senate seat. The other race is the Brawley-Hunt race in House District 103, which stretches from south Charlotte to Mint Hill.
Through individual contributions and help from the state Democratic Party, Hunt raised more than $1.2 million — making it one of the most expensive house races in the state.
Dickerson said the county is also counting provisional ballots in the race. The deadline to certify the race is 11 a.m. Nov. 16.
In a statement Wednesday, Hunt said that "tens of thousands of people came out to have their voices heard and every one of those voices in District 103 deserves to be heard. There are still a large number of absentee and provisional ballots outstanding, and we are committed to ensuring that each of those votes is properly counted."
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