The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) unanimously certified the results of the election on Wednesday. primary election of 2026 in North Carolina for almost all contests, with the exception of several federal races.
The federal races that have not yet been certified include those for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives Districts 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, and 13.
The certification came after all 100 county election boards validated the results at the local level.
“Today, the State Board guaranteed that the votes of more than 1.5 million of North Carolina voters "were counted," said Sam Hayes, NCSBE's chief executive, in a statement.
“We are very pleased with the way this primary election was administered and we appreciate the work of the election officials and workers throughout the state,” he added.
The more than 1.5 million voters in the March 3 primary represent approximately 19.7% of registered voters.
Why the delay in federal elections?
The NCSBE excluded several federal contests from certification after identifying that provisional ballots from 16 voters were not counted in 10 counties.
These voters were on the “Registration Repair Project” list because they needed to correct their records to include a valid identification number.
This project arose from a court settlement following a lawsuit filed in 2025 by the United States Department of Justice against the NCSBE.
The lawsuit alleged that the state was not fully complying with the federal Help America Vote Act. This federal law requires that every voter have an identification number, such as a driver's license or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
According to the agreement, the State Board must ensure that this data is complete and properly recorded. This has led to the review of some ballots in federal elections.
Although those votes would not change the outcome of any election, the Board ordered the counties to count them within two weeks. These contests will be certified at a meeting in April.
Related: How do you know if you need to correct your voter registration?
Audits and verification of results
Outside of the federal contests, the NCSBE voted 5-0 to certify the results in all offices under its jurisdiction.
After each election, election officials conduct audits. When necessary, they also conduct recounts to confirm the results in contests like the one in [the election]. State Senate District 26.
According to the post-election reportThe audits confirmed that the machine results are accurate and that there is no evidence of fraud or irregularities.
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