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LIVE ELECTION UPDATES: NC’s election results won’t be final for another week

By WSOCTV.com News Staff
By WSOCTV.com News Staff

On a day of electoral uncertainty and legal action, Joe Biden emerged as the apparent winner in Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday, reclaiming key parts of the “blue wall” that slipped away from Democrats four years ago and narrowing President Donald Trump’s pathway to reelection.

[LIVE: ELECTION RESULTS]

As of Wednesday afternoon, ABC News projected that Trump would win Montana, Texas, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Idaho, Mississippi, Wyoming, Missouri, Kansas, Utah, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, one and four of the five electoral votes in Nebraska.

Biden, meanwhile, emerged Wednesday as the apparent winner in Wisconsin. ABC News projects he will win Michigan, Hawaii, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Virginia, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington state, Illinois, New Hampshire, Colorado, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, one electoral vote in Nebraska and three electoral votes in Maine.

Races Not Yet Projected: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

[SPECIAL SECTION: VOTE 2020]

Americans made their choices as the nation faced a confluence of historic crises with each candidate declaring the other fundamentally unfit to navigate the challenges. We’ll keep you updated throughout the day on breaking developments surrounding the election.

Key races in the Carolinas:

>> Scroll below for real-time, live, minute-by-minute updates during the day after Election Day in the Carolinas:

10 p.m.

Mecklenburg County will start counting its first batch of absentee ballots on Friday. CLICK here to read more.

6:30 p.m.

North Carolina Republicans are celebrating the preservation of their majorities in both General Assembly chambers, the Associated Press reported.

Their victory allows them next year to redraw state and congressional districts based on the 2020 census.

Those districts could be in place for a decade. Republicans withstood a massive effort by Democrats inside the state and nationally to wrest control of the chambers. Republicans took back several seats they gave up in 2018.

But Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s reelection means he can keep using his veto stamp as a check on GOP legislative activities.

3 p.m.

State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell and State Board Chair Damon Circosta updated the public on where the vote count stands in North Carolina.

She said the number of outstanding mail-in ballots stands at 117,000. Some of those people may have elected to vote in-person or not at all. Most counties will be conducting an absentee ballot review meeting on Nov. 12, so that is when we may see some races change.

>>Click here to read more.

12:25 p.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell and State Board Chair Damon Circosta will speak.

Channel 9 will carry it LIVE on-air, online and on your mobile device.

12:15 p.m.

11:10 a.m.

10:10 a.m.

Channel 9 reporter Anthony Kustura caught up with Mecklenburg County’s Director of Elections, Michael Dickerson, on Wednesday morning.

“In North Carolina, we have to continue the process,” he said. “We have a steady process that we have to do up through canvass day, so we’ll continue to do that. I’ve got absentee by mails that can come in post-marked yesterday that can still be received. I’ve got provisionals I’ve got to go through, and, of course, we got our sample random audit that we all have to do sometime this week and next week before we canvass on the 13th -- so we’re still operating as we normally do here in North Carolina.”

“Our number one goal today is to get everything back into the office, the warehouse -- get our equipment back. The other is to go ahead and start the rest of the auditing and finishing up this whole thing ... we have to make sure we have everything accurate.”

9:55 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

6 a.m.

North Carolina Republicans have withstood a massive effort by Democrats to retake both General Assembly chambers.

Election results showed GOP legislators winning majorities in the 50-seat Senate and 120-seat House so the party can extend control there for another two years. Democrats had been on a multimillion-dollar spending push to win several additional seats in each chamber and flip power.

The GOP majorities mean Republicans will be able in 2021 to redraw district maps for the next decade based on new census figures. They’ll be able to preserve their decade-long agenda on taxes, regulations and social issues.

5:45 a.m.

4 a.m.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, campaign manager for former Vice President Joe Biden, has issued a statement in response to President Donald Trump’s comments overnight.

“If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort,” the statement read. “And they will prevail.”

2:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump spoke to his supporters early Wednesday morning from the White House.

“The citizens of this country have come out in record numbers to support our incredible movement. We won states that we weren’t expected to win," he said.

He said that he intends to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop all voting.

“We will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Trump told the crowd. “We want all voting to stop. We do not want them finding ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning.”

Trump thanked the American people for their support and called the vote counting process a “fraud."

”A very sad group of people are trying to disenfranchise that group of people (those who supported him).""We won’t stand for that.

He added that it is “clear that we have won Georgia."

”Likewise we have won North Carolina. They can’t catch us." Trump said."We are winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous number of votes. We’re up 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. We are winning Michigan by 300,000 votes.

He said his campaign was also winning Wisconsin.

“Did I predict this?” he asked the crowd. “Either they were going to win or if they didn’t win they were going to take us to court. This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment for this country.”

1:45 a.m.

12:45 a.m.

12:40 a.m.

12:20 a.m.

12 a.m.

Republican Mark Robinson, 52, made history Tuesday night and will become the North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor, WTVD reported.

Democrat Yvonne Holley, a four-term state representative for Raleigh’s District 38, conceded to Robinson just after 11 p.m.

Scroll below for Election Day updates:

11:18 p.m.

10:56 p.m.

10:37 p.m.

Democrat Roy Cooper wins reelection for governor in North Carolina, the AP reports. CLICK here to read more.

10:26 p.m.

(AP) Four incumbents have won reelection to U.S. House seats in South Carolina. Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn won a 15th term, Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan won a sixth term, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman won a second full term and U.S. Rep.

Tom Rice won a fifth term. While the U.S. Senate race and two other U.S. House races in South Carolina saw record breaking spending, the four incumbents beat opponents who did not raise record breaking amounts of money.

South Carolina voters also took advantage of no-excuse absentee voting because of COVID-19, casting 1.3 million votes before Election Day. That’s nearly 37% of the state’s registered voters.

10:20 p.m.

10 p.m.

Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has secured a fourth term in the U.S. Senate. Read more here.

9:53 p.m.

Republican Ralph Norman wins reelection to U.S. House in South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, the AP reported.

9:51 p.m.

9:42 p.m.

Major races in North Carolina are getting tighter with 65% ballots cast.

President

  • Biden: 49.85%
  • Trump: 48.78%

Governor

  • Cooper: 52.69%
  • Forest: 45.92%

U.S. Senate

  • Cunningham: 48.25%
  • Tillis: 47.55%

9:25 p.m.

Republican Madison Cawthorn has been elected to represent a western North Carolina U.S. House district, the AP reported.

The rising GOP star’s win in the 11th Congressional District allows him to fill a vacant seat previously held by Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, who left to serve as President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

He defeated Democrat and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Moe Davis. The 25-year-old Cawthorn will be one of the youngest people to ever serve in the U.S. Congress.

He first drew attention after defeating Trump’s preferred candidate in an upset in the June GOP primary runoff

9:22 p.m.

9:12 p.m.

8:48 p.m.

8:15 p.m.

Polls have officially closed in North Carolina, and early voting and mail ballot results are in.

President

  • Joe Biden: 56%
  • Donald Trump: 43%

Governor

  • Roy Cooper: 59%
  • Dan Forest: 40%

Senate

  • Cal Cunningham: 53%
  • Thom Tillis: 42%

7:56 p.m.

President Donald Trump has won again in South Carolina, a state where his support has remained solid during his first term, the AP reported.

Trump defeated Democratic nominee Joe Biden to win the state’s nine electoral votes. South Carolina, which Trump won handily in 2016, had been assumed to be safely in his 2020 win column. Its early primary status makes the state a must-stop destination for both Republicans and Democrats.

But South Carolina has rarely seen recent general election campaigning. South Carolina hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign.

7:30 p.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has voted to keep 10 polling places open longer beyond their initially scheduled closure because they opened late or had technical difficulties.

The move Tuesday is expected to delay statewide reporting of results. The longest extension was 45 minutes for a site in Sampson County. That means the state can’t publicly report any statewide results until 8:15 p.m.

7 p.m.

Polls in South Carolina have closed.

6:28 p.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has voted to keep four polling places open longer because they opened late, which is expected to delay statewide reporting of results.

The longest extension was 45 minutes for a site in Sampson County. That means the state can’t publicly report any statewide results until 8:15 p.m.

Voting at the Flowes Store Volunteer Fire Station in Concord is extended to 8:09 p.m.

Warren County’s Fishing Creek, Judkins and Smith Creek precincts will remain open until 7:55 p.m.

At the Sampson County Keener Precinct site, someone filed an affidavit claiming that the precinct opened late, but election officials said it opened on time.

Election officials said there was a printing issue but voting never ceased.

The NCSBE is granting a 40-minute extension. Polls close at 8:10 p.m.

At the Sampson County Clinton Precinct, there is a 21-minute extension. Polls will close there at 7:51 p.m.

At the Sampson County Westbrook Precinct, a tabulator was down, and an emergency bin was used. Voting continued but some voters left. The NCSBE is not extending voting time there.

6:25 p.m.

Sampson County’s Keener, Westbrook and West Clinton precincts will remain open until 7:55 p.m.

6 p.m.

(AP) The counting of more than 13,000 votes in one South Carolina county will be delayed because of a printing error. Officials said the mail-in ballots in Dorchester County did not have the proper bars, called “timing marks” printed at the top. They say the error won’t affect anyone’s votes, but they will need to make copies and manually enter the ballots into a voting machine after the rest of the counting is done. Officials wouldn’t say how long that might take except that Dorchester County’s full results will be finished by the Friday deadline to certify returns. The 1st and 6th District congressional races will be affected by the unscanned votes.

5:35 p.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections will hold an emergency meeting at 6 p.m. to consider extending voting hours at seven sites including the Flowes Store Volunteer Fire Department in Cabarrus County.

3:50 p.m.

As of 2 p.m., more 13,000 voters cast their ballots in Union County. 112,000 already voted early and absentee. Discounting early and mail-in ballots, the total on Election Day in 2016 was 106,374.

2:30 p.m.

CMPD has arrested a man who brought a gun to a polling site this morning because he was told not to return to the site but did so anyway.

2:05 p.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has voted to keep four polling places open longer because they opened late, which is expected to delay statewide reporting of results. The longest extension was 45 minutes for a site in Sampson County. That means the state can’t publicly report any statewide results until 8:15 p.m. State elections officials said in a news release last week that if hours are extended at any polls, they wouldn’t publicly post any results until all polls are closed.

The NCSBE is extending voting at the Plainview Fire Station by 45 minutes and NE Clinton site by 24 minutes. Voting will also be extended by 34 minutes at the Bluford precinct in Guilford County.

Voting at the First Missionary Baptist Church in Cabarrus County will be extended by 17 minutes.

The earliest North Carolinians will see election results now is 8:15 p.m.

1:10 p.m.

During a 1 p.m. NCSBE meeting, Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said that, overall, things are going smoothly today. Minor issues were reported at four 4 precincts today.

In Cabarrus County at First Missionary Baptist, the precinct opened at 6:47 a.m. due to computer issues. In Guilford County at Bluford Elementary, there was a 34-minute delay in voting.

Plainview Fire Station in Sampson County had printer issues and precinct officials did not go to backup labels so polls there opened 45 minutes late. At NE Clinton site in Sampson County, there were also printer issues and polls opened 24 minutes late.

1 p.m.

A ballot issue in Cabarrus County this morning -- 50 people did not have a State House race on their ballot.

12:30 p.m.

101,706 people voted in Gaston County, including early, mail-in, absentee -- and ballots are still being cast now.

12:15 p.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has called a special meeting at 1 p.m. to consider extending voting hours at four precincts.

11:30 a.m.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. in North Carolina. If you’re in line, you can still vote. There’s a likely chance some precincts may extend voting by 15-30 minutes due to minor hiccups like a power outage or workers arriving late. Results won’t be posted until all polls are closed.

10:15 a.m.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Congresswoman Alma Adams spoke to voters Tuesday morning in Charlotte.

10 a.m.

Sen. Thom Tillis, who is in a heated race with challenger Cal Cunningham, spoke with voters in Cornelius this morning.

7:45 a.m.

Polls in South Carolina opened at 7 a.m. Channel 9 South Carolina bureau reporter Greg Suskin had to park a half-mile from his polling location because of the turnout.

7:30 a.m.

The chief precinct judge at Landsdowne Elementary off Providence Road in south Charlotte told Channel 9 that she had car trouble Tuesday morning and got to the polling site a few minutes late. Voters were delayed less than 30 minutes.

7:10 a.m.

Polls in North Carolina opened at 6:30 a.m., and Channel 9 crews were already seeing lines of voters.

7 a.m.

Conditions will be perfect to head to the polls today.

6 a.m.

At 32 degrees, it was the coldest Election Day in Charlotte since 1976.

Cox Media Group

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