Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page on Saturday asked for the North Carolina State Auditor to recuse himself from overseeing an election between Page and the leader of the North Carolina Senate.
Page made the comments at an anti-abortion event at the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, which are his first since he extended his lead over Phil Berger for the GOP primary of the state's 26th Senate District.
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Candidates can request a recount if the margin of victory is less than 1% of the vote. A possible recount would be overseen by officials appointed by State Auditor Dave Boliek, who campaigned for Berger.
"You have the auditor, Dave Boliek. You know, he was up in my county during the early or during the early voting doing a news conference with my opponent at a polling site," Page said. "That just shows a total conflict of interest. I've asked for Dave Boliek our auditor, to step aside, to recuse himself."
Page had previously requested that Boliek recuse himself from the primary on Wednesday before provisional ballots had finished being counted. The State Auditor's Office, in response to his recusal request, released a statement that read, "The State Board of Elections has issued a thorough description of the process. The State Auditor’s Office has no role in that process."
On Thursday, Bob Rucho, a Republican member of the State Board of Elections and Berger ally, resigned from the board. Rucho had made public statements in support of Berger and against Page ahead of the primary, even though board members are expected to refrain from partisan statements. Rucho's resignation came in part over recent contributions made to 2026 sheriffs candidates.
After provisional ballots were counted, Page extended his lead over Berger from 2 votes to 23 votes. The counting still isn’t done yet. There are still outstanding overseas and military votes in the race. There are so few of those ballots — fewer than six, officials say — that even if Berger wins them all, he’d still be trailing Page. But that doesn’t make Page the immediate winner.
Berger played an influential role in passing the law that moved oversight of the state’s elections from the state’s Democratic governor to the Republican auditor. And Boliek has leaned on Berger’s bench to staff his office: Boliek’s chief of staff was previously a top lawyer for Berger at the legislature, and Boliek’s spokesperson is Berger’s former spokesperson.
In the past, Boliek has promised he can carry out his watchdog job impartially.
“I was elected in a partisan election,” Boliek, a Republican, told WRAL News in an interview last month. “But in completing the job, I represent and work on behalf of all North Carolinians, regardless of their political party. And when it comes to voting, voting is sacred in this country. It is sacred in this state.”
In a statement provided to WRAL News, a spokesperson for Berger said his office does plan to ask for a recount if it's merited. His office did not immediately respond to our question about whether he thinks Boliek should recuse himself.
A spokesperson for the Board of Elections dismissed the notion that Boliek would influence in counting ballots, adding that he plays no role in counting the ballots.
"They can be rest assured that this process will be secure," said Jason Tyson with the Board of Elections. "First of all, that it will be free of tampering, that it is handled very securely and openly. It's handled by the counties, by the folks who actually administer the elections."
NCCapitol contributed to this report.