By GARY D. ROBERTSON : Associated Press Writer Nov 8, 2002 : 7:03 pm ET

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Republicans apparently gained the edge Friday in controlling the state House after a recount in Wayne County showed Majority Leader Phil Baddour now trailing in his race.

Baddour, D-Wayne, had an 896-vote lead over Republican Louis Pate Jr. after Tuesday's ballots were first counted in their House District 11 race. But Wayne County elections officials discovered a glitch in the vote count, and a preliminary recount ending midday Friday gave Pate a 164-vote lead, county elections chairman Geoff Hulse said.

The House had appeared to be split 60-60 for the next legislative session, but now Republicans could have a 61-59 advantage should the leading candidates in three other close races end up as winners.

House Republican leaders were cautiously optimistic Friday that they would retake the chamber they controlled for four years in the 1990s.

"This sharing of power is not in the cards right now," said Minority Leader Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston. "The people of North Carolina have requested a change in the leadership in Raleigh, at least in the House."

Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, said "control of the state House is still far from decided. The balance of power could shift several more times in the next few days and weeks."

A software problem prompted county election officials to retabulate Tuesday's results late Thursday and early Friday. Baddour said late Friday he would ask for a recount.

"We feel like that the only certain way to put it to bed is by doing a hand-eye recount," Hulse said.

Vote totals now show Democrats and Republicans each winning 58 House seats. The GOP leads in the Pate-Baddour race and in two other seats by narrow margins, while a Democrat leads a third close race. Vote totals were updated Friday as the counties reviewed their vote totals and presented them to the State Board of Elections.

Democrats currently have a 62-58 advantage in the House, which may have to return to Raleigh soon to decide whether to override Gov. Mike Easley's first veto.

Hulse said voting observers from both parties alerted elections officials after noticing that the number of votes in the U.S. Senate race was lower than the total number of ballots cast.

Elections officials determined that voting machines hadn't counted straight-party ballots, Hulse said. The machines were reprogrammed and the machines counted the ballots again, he said.

The retabulated results show Pate, the mayor of Mount Olive, with 8,502 votes, or 50.49 percent, and Baddour with 8,338 votes, or 49.51 percent. Before Friday, Baddour had 6,058 votes compared to Pate with 5,162 votes.

"It looked like there were a thousand more straight-party Republican voters than there were Democrats," Hulse said.

The current margin between the two candidates is within 1 percentage point of the race's total ballots cast, meaning Baddour can ask for a recount. The deadline for requests in noon Tuesday.

Pate said something felt wrong on Election Day after vote totals didn't seem to match what he believed was heavier-than-normal turnout.

"I'm very, very happy, and quite surprised," Pate said Friday. "The sky looks a little bit bluer than it did Tuesday night."

Baddour said some precinct totals seemed low Tuesday but chalked it up at the time to early balloting. Even if his defeat gives the GOP the majority, Baddour said Black will still be able to remain speaker.

"I'm confident that he will be able to put a coalition together of Democrats and Republicans," Baddour said.

The straight-party ballot problems didn't affect the outcome of other legislative races but may affect the margin in the Court of Appeals race between Martha Geer and Bill Constangy, Hulse said.

Baddour, 60, won his first House election in 1992, lost to Pate in 1994, then defeated Pate in 1996.

The margins in the three other undecided House races changed little after county canvassing Friday and looked close enough for a recount. They include:

-- the District 3 race, where GOP Michael Gorman led Democratic Rep. Alice Underhill by 182 votes;

-- the District 17 race, where Republican Bonner Stiller led Democratic Rep. David Redwine by 163 votes;

-- the District 63 race, where Democrat Alice Bordsen led the GOP's Bob Sharpe by 118 votes.

Democrats still will retain control of the Senate. The Democrats have 26 seats and lead two others compared to the GOP's 22.

In one close race, Joe Sam Queen leads former House member Gregg Thompson in District 47 by 648 votes, which appears to be outside the recount threshold.

Updated figures in the race between Democratic Sen. Eric Reeves and Republican Paul Coble likely won't be available until late Friday or Saturday. Tuesday's unofficial results gave Reeves a 424-vote lead.

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2002