The Surry County Board of Elections will hold a Hand-To-Eye audit count of ballots on Monday, March 9, 2026 at 10:00 AM. The State Board of Elections has randomly selected the Election Day ballots from North Westfield and Stewarts Creek #1. The sample audit count is required by statute and helps ensure the reliability of election results tabulated by a voting machine. The audit is a comparison of the machine count with the hand-to-eye count completed as a test to ensure the voting equipment read the voters' choices accurately. Which contest is to be counted: Generally it will be the top contest in each ballot style in the selected sample. General Statute 163-182.1(b)(1), requires that the voting sites selected “shall be one or more full precincts, full counts of mailed absentee ballots, full counts of one or more early voting sites, or a combination.” The ballot item selected for the sample audit shall be a statewide ballot item. When there is no statewide ballot item, as is the case for the current election, a county board of elections should use the ballot item at the top of the ballot. This is necessary in order to ensure that every ballot in the voting site is included in the sample audit count, as required by statute.The audit will be held in Room A of the Surry County Service Center - 915 E. Atkins Street, Dobson, NC 27017. For additional information please contact the Surry County Board of Elections at (336) 401-8225.