Dare County Board of Elections completes hand-to-eye sample audit; tallies match precinct tapes

The Dare County Board of Elections held a public hand-to-eye sample audit on May 14 to compare manual tallies with precinct tabulation tapes for two randomly drawn precincts, Kill Devil Hills and Southern Shores, focusing on the U.S. Senate contests for both parties. The board opened sealed ballot boxes, sorted ballots by party and candidate and completed the caller/tallyer procedure required by state guidelines.

Director said the board would ‘‘open the box and sort them’’ and described the bipartisan process used: one Republican and one Democratic tallyer, a caller and a watcher for each team. Staff instructed tallyers to call each candidate name while counters silently marked tally sheets and called ‘‘tally’’ on each group of five.

After completing the counts, staff reported that the hand tallies matched the precinct tape totals for the audited contests. "They all match the tapes," the Director said as the team confirmed counts for multiple candidates and the undervote category. Examples cited during the audit included mid-range tallies for several named candidates on each ballot and an undervote count that matched the tape for Kill Devil Hills.

Board members inspected the sealed ballot bins and reviewed the tape printouts. Staff recorded that no overvotes were found in the pre‑sorts for the contests audited and that the seals and tally sheets were prepared for signing. Staff noted the audit was completed "in compliance with the state requirements."

The board also discussed whether to hold a tentative Thursday pre‑canvas meeting if supplemental items arrived (for example, military or overseas ballots returned through the portal). After staff said there were no items to consider at this time, a board member moved to cancel the Thursday meeting; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board then moved to adjourn; a motion to adjourn was seconded and the meeting ended at 11:52 a.m.

The audit covered only the two precincts and the specific contests named; the board said the results were a sample verification and not a full recount. The ballots and signed tally sheets remain under seal as part of the official record.

Votes at a glance: a motion to cancel the Thursday pre‑canvas meeting carried by voice vote (mover and seconder not recorded in the public tally); a motion to adjourn carried by voice vote. No roll‑call tallies were recorded in the transcript.