Some people who grew up in North Carolina are old enough to remember when the state, like other states, had Election Day, rather than “Election Season.” However, in this century, it’s become clear that elections can get drawn out for very long periods of time and now that season in North Carolina runs from the start of Early Voting until the county election boards across the state certify their vote counts, and, finally, the State Board of Elections puts the stamp of approval on the outcome.

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, the NC State Board of Elections concluded the certification of the vote tabulation process with little fanfare and officially declared the winners as well as the vote counts in all races where recounts weren’t being conducted.

Once again, as has so often happened in past elections, the Republican candidate for president won the majority of votes in the state of North Carolina – and won the national presidential race as well.

On Tuesday, Nov. 26, the State Board of Elections unanimously certified the results of the 2024 General Election in North Carolina, after nearly 6 million ballots were counted. That included certifying the victory in this state for Trump.

This same type of board certification process has been going on in states across the county.

Fortunately, there were no angry mobs, court challenges or associated violence over the outcome of this year’s presidential election. (There are still a few Democratic conspiracy theorists on YouTube arguing that Elon Musk and his Starlink communication system stole the election, however, that theory has gained little steam.)

Also, there’s no indication that anyone is putting pressure on Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris – who next month will have the job of certifying the national presidential election results in January – to contest the voting process.

Even some of Trump’s staunchest opponents argue that Trump winning was a good thing for American democracy and for increased faith in the elections system, because, now that he has won, Trump and his supporters have no reason to challenge the legitimacy of the election system anymore.

Also, no one is arguing this time around that it’s the vice-president of the United States, and not the voters of the United States, who get to choose the president.

Trump won North Carolina narrowly in 2020, and some state election officials said privately that they were relieved at that outcome since it spared North Carolina county and state election offices from becoming the targets of outrage and challenges that were prevalent in states where Trump lost narrowly that year.

On November 26, there was little fanfare as the five-member bipartisan State Board of Elections voted unanimously to canvass the votes cast in all ballot items within the jurisdiction of the State Board – including the presidential contest – and “authenticate the count in every ballot item, except for contests under recount.”

The battles around the state that are still up in the air and have not yet been certified are the following…

NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Seat 6 (Statewide)​

NC State Senate District 18 (Granville, Wake)​

NC State Senate District 42 (Mecklenburg)

NC House of Representatives District 032 (Granville, Vance)​

NC House of Representatives District 105 (Mecklenburg) ​

Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners (Cabarrus)​

Pitt County Board of Commissioners District C (Pitt)​

City of Trinity City Council Ward 03 (Randolph)​

Rowan-Salisbury Schools Board of Education Seat 05 (Salisbury) (Rowan)

Wilson County Board of Education District 04 (Wilson)​

The state board’s certification of the other election results came after North  Carolina’s 100 county boards of elections certified their results at the county level and conducted their required post-election audits that are meant to verify the counts.

Soon, the State Board will begin issuing “Certificates of Election” to the winning candidates in the contests under the State Board’s jurisdiction that have been settled.

Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, issued a statement last week paying tribute to the election officials, workers and volunteers who played a part in conducting the election in the state.

“Today, the State Board made sure that the votes of more than 5.7 million North Carolinians who voted in the 2024 election were counted,” she said last Tuesday. “We appreciate the hard work of election officials and poll workers across North Carolina who helped make this election a success, despite the catastrophic Hurricane Helene, which struck just weeks before Election Day.”

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