New Hanover primary not over yet

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Just when you thought the primary election was over in New Hanover County, it continued today… sort of.

Two Board of Elections workers recounted every ballot from two precincts. The problem was that the number of ballots didn’t match the authorization forms. After the rescan the numbers checked out evenly.

Watching over this whole process was James Utley, candidate for the 18th District House seat, a close race that had him nipping at the heals of Susi Hamilton throughout Election Night. The board made the votes official, and for a while it looked like they were close enough Utley could call for a recount.

“Always as a candidate you think that you’re going to win, so thinking that we would be this close, I guess no one thought it would be a nail bitter like this, but that showed that we were a very formidable candidate,” Utley said.

After reviewing the rules closely, the difference between the votes was more than one percent. Utley needed a difference of less than one percent.

The official numbers also revealed the possibility of a second primary, basically a runoff, for County Commission between Bill Caster and Brian Berger, who fell closely behind Caster.

Berger was expected to attend the canvass, but was no where to be found. He has until noon Thursday to file for the second primary. Until then it’s still unclear who will hold that seat.

We caught up with Berger over the phone. He told us he’s been thinking a lot about the possible runoff. He said he’ll make his decision tomorrow morning.