From Staff Reports

A sample hand recount of the ballots cast in two precincts in the Asheville City Council election on Nov. 6 showed little change.
Councilman Bryan Freeborn, who lost his seat in the election, had requested the recount after an initial electronic recount had dropped the margin between him and Bill Russell from 74 votes to 68 votes.

In the hand count — conducted Monday —  Freeborn lost two votes from the last tally.

Buncombe County Elections Director Trena Parker said that she was still waiting for the official word from the State Board of Elections, but that a change in outcome is “highly unlikely.”

Russell, a Republican insurance-agency owner, expressed relief that the hand recount supported the initial outcome.
Under state law, Freeborn was allowed to ask for a Nov. 16 electronic recount. He said at the time that he did not expect a change in outcome, but wanted to test the accuracy of the optical-scan voting machines.

After that recount showed little change, he was entitled to a hand recount of 3 percent of precincts.

Had the results shown a big enough change in his favor, it would have triggered a hand recount of all ballots cast.
Freeborn said Monday that he likely will pursue no other action and will “let it go.”

Russell will be sworn in on Dec. 11, along with the other winners in the race, incumbents Jan Davis and Brownie Newman.