The State Board of Elections on Wednesday unanimously certified the results of the 2026 primary election for all contests across the state, except for the federal contests for U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives Districts 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, and 13.
The state certification came after the 100 county boards of elections recently certified results at the county level and after post-election audits conducted over the past couple weeks verified the counts. The State Board will issue certificates of nomination to the prevailing candidates in contests under State Board jurisdiction.
“Today, the State Board ensured that the votes of more than 1.5 million North Carolinians who voted in the 2026 primary were counted,” said Sam Hayes, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “We were extremely pleased with how this primary election was administered, and we appreciate the hard work and dedication of election officials and poll workers across the state who helped make this process an overwhelming success.”
The State Board identified 10 county boards of elections where the provisional ballots of a total of 16 voters on the “Registration Repair” list in those federal contests were not counted, as required by a consent judgment entered into with the United States Department of Justice.
Even though the votes could not affect the outcome of any contests, the State Board directed those counties to count the votes of those voters in the federal contests within two weeks. The Board is expected to certify those contests at a meeting in April.
Aside from those federal contests, the bipartisan State Board voted 5-0 to canvass the votes cast in all ballot items within its jurisdiction, including the Senate District 26 contest between Phil Berger and Sam Page.
More than 1.5 million NC voters cast ballots in the March 3 election, a turnout of about 19.7% of registered voters.
Post-Election Audits and Recounts
After every election, elections officials conduct a series of audits and, when necessary, recounts, to confirm the election results.
Findings of post-election audits are detailed in the Post-Election Audit Report for the Primary Election on March 3, 2026 (PDF). Put simply, the audits confirmed that results tabulated by machine are accurate and that there is no evidence of fraud or other irregularities that could have affected the primary election outcomes.