Strap in. It might be a while before the Page-Berger race is decided.

Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page declared victory with a two vote lead over Phil Berger, the most powerful Republican in the state, but there are still votes to be counted and lawsuits are likely.  

UPDATE: This article has been changed to reflect new vote totals after the Rockingham and Guilford County boards of election on Friday added the provisional ballots to the count.

Phil Berger is still the state’s most powerful Republican, and he still trails Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page in the primary election that could kick him out of the North Carolina Senate.

Page lead Berger by only two votes after Election Day, but the lead increased to 23 on Friday after the Rockingham and Guilford County boards of election added provisional ballots to the count.

As the final vote counting process nears its end, though, Page is warning Berger and his friends not to tip the scales or even give off the appearance that they might be trying to.

“I won’t let anyone steal this election,” Page told reporters at a press conference after declaring victory.

Page also called on State Auditor Dave Boliek, who has oversight of the North Carolina Board of Elections (BOE) thanks in large part to Berger, to recuse himself from any decision making related to the vote counting or certification process. 

Boliek, who is not on the BOE but certainly has sway, openly campaigned for Berger during the primary, and employs several of Berger’s former aides. 

That “seems like a big ethical conflict,” Page told reporters this week.

“I want to make sure that when people cast their ballot for their candidate, it gets counted,” Page said. 

Page told NC Newsline that he had not heard from Boliek, but said that a recusal “would seem pretty obvious.”

The day after Page’s comments, Bob Rucho, a Republican member of the state board of elections, resigned after acknowledging he had made donations to Republican candidates in separate races, a violation of state law. 

Rucho also posted his support of Berger on social media before the election and criticized Page, moves that may not have violated the law but are not great looks for officials in charge of maintaining election integrity.

The two vote lead was essentially a tie until every vote is counted, which means the provisional ballots announced on Friday and overseas ballots still to come will decide this race. State law gives anyone who voted a provisional ballot—which needs an extra layer of verification to be counted—until Friday to resolve any outstanding issues. And overseas military ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day, but have until March 12 to arrive and be counted. 

The process can be maddening when an election is so close, but it is vital to ensure that every legal vote is indeed counted. 

A voter who cast a provisional ballot has to travel to the county board of elections to present an ID or whatever else is needed to resolve the issue, but the board of elections in Rockingham County, where most of Page’s voters were centered, was inexplicably closed the day after election day until a voting rights advocate posted about it on social media and the NCBOE ordered them to reopen. 

The other county board in the district, Guilford County, where Berger’s voters were centered, was open and available with no restrictions. 

This, Page said, was also a bad look. 

“We need to make sure people have the confidence that their votes are being counted and that there’s no interference whatsoever,” Page told the Fox affiliate in Greensboro. 

“And we’re not saying that there was, but you have to remove any doubt.”

Even after the provisional vote totals were updated on Friday, there is little chance either candidate concedes. Lawsuits are likely, and it could be a long time before anything is settled. 

A different tune than the Jefferson Griffin case

That Berger was behind in a close race at the end of Election Day is striking considering his stance in 2024 on the close race between Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin for a seat on the state Supreme Court. 

On Election Night 2024, Griffin, a Republican, had a much bigger lead than two votes, but it was a statewide race, so the voter pool was also much larger. Tthe margin was still miniscule. As the provisional ballots and overseas military ballots were counted, Riggs took the lead. 

Recounts confirmed Riggs’ victory, but Griffin refused to concede and took Riggs to court, where after several months, a federal judge tossed Griffin’s attempt to overturn the election. 

Berger accused Riggs of trying to steal the election and blasted the vote-counting process as “just another episode of count until someone you want to win, wins.”

In his own race, Berger says he is eager to let the full process play out without restrictions.