One candidate wants a runoff. Two other candidates want a recount. And a fourth candidate is legally the "prevailing candidate" -- but not quite the winner.
That confusing knot of circumstances describes the status of the Democratic primary for state labor commissioner. Now state election officials will have to untangle it.
The situation arose after the May 6 primary. Four Democrats ran for labor commissioner, all hoping for the chance to face the Republican incumbent, Cherie Berry, in the general election.
When the results came in on primary night, the four Democrats had split the statewide vote nearly evenly among them.
Counties have completed their post-election canvassing, and with all the votes in, one candidate -- Mary Fant Donnan of Winston-Salem -- has a slight but undisputed lead.
Donnan received 27.54 percent of the vote. That's enough to put her ahead of the three other Democrats but not enough for her to win the primary outright.
Under North Carolina law, if the first-place candidate does not get at least 40 percent of the vote, the second-place candidate can request a runoff between the top two finishers.
The question in the race for labor commissioner is this: Who is the second-place finisher? (And therefore, who gets to face Donnan in a runoff?)
The results apparently show that person to be John Brooks, who received 24.36 percent of the vote, or about 38,000 votes behind Donnan, in an election in which 1.2 million votes were cast.
Brooks, who lives in Raleigh, is a former labor commissioner who served in the position from 1977 to 1993. Brooks filed a request this week for a runoff election.
The complication is that the third- and fourth-place finishers are disputing whether Brooks is actually the one who finished second. The third-place finisher, Ty Richardson of Middlesex, currently stands with 24.18 percent, or about 2,000 votes behind Brooks.
And the fourth-place finisher, Robin Anderson of Cary, has 23.92 percent, or about 5,000 votes behind Brooks.
Both Richardson and Anderson say they believe that the margin separating them and Brooks is so small that they are entitled to a statewide recount. Both filed for a recount before the deadline on Thursday.
Under state election law, a losing candidate is entitled to a recount if the margin between the losing candidate and "a prevailing candidate" is no more than 0.5 percent or 10,000 votes.
But it is unclear who is considered "a prevailing candidate".
If Brooks, the second-place finisher, is considered "a prevailing candidate" by virtue of qualifying for a runoff, then it would appear that Richardson and Anderson are entitled to a recount.
But Gary Bartlett, the state elections director, suggested that only Donnan, the first-place finisher, should count as a prevailing candidate.
"In talking to counsel, we're not quite sure they're entitled to a recount," Bartlett said, referring to Richardson and Anderson.
The statewide results won't be completely official until the State Board of Elections holds its state canvass Thursday. The state board has the authority to order a discretionary recount in any race.
So even if the state board decides that Brooks doesn't count as a prevailing candidate, and thus the other two candidates aren't legally entitled to a recount, the board could still order one.
Once the recount issue is settled and the second-place finisher is official, Donnan will face off against that person in a runoff on June 24.
It is the only statewide race in which a runoff was necessary.
■ James Romoser can be reached at 919-210-6794 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com.
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