RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina's top elections official said on Tuesday that voters will have to be patient as ballots are tabulated again.

Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, a Democrat, requested a recount after she trailed Republican challenger Justice Paul Newby by 366 votes. The latest total reflects the most recent county canvasses, including a delayed canvass in Robeson County that dealt with more than 2,000 ballots. Newby declared victory in the election Tuesday morning.

The recount will decide whether the state's highest court will have a 4-3 or a 5-2 Democratic majority. Moreover, the chief justice is responsible for administering the entire state court system.

The runner-up in a statewide election can ask for a recount if fewer than 10,000 votes separate them from the apparent winner. NCSBE Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said election officials in all 100 counties will feed every single ballot back through their vote tabulating machines. The process can begin as early as Thursday and must be completed by next Wednesday. The state will certify the results of all of the elections on Nov. 24.

“Voters just need to keep in mind that this is going to be a multi-day process,” she said. “It is not a hand-to-eye recount in our state at this point, it is a machine recount. And so, it's going to be a lengthy process because we now have to put back through tabulators about 5.4 million ballots.”

Seventy-five percent of eligible voters in North Carolina cast ballots in the general election, a record. Bell said this and the closeness of several statewide races speak volumes about the state's involvement in democracy. At this point, she said her main task is to keep election staff focused in the post-election phase.

“We've been working pretty much nonstop since Sept. 4, when we sent out those first ballots,” she said. “We're still going. I'm beginning to feel like the Energizer Bunny.”