As early voting exit polls in North Carolina trickled in just before Election Day, state Republican Party officials could hardly contain their glee. They issued a statement hailing early results that suggested “the once dynamic Obama Coalition” was “crumbling and tired.” The statement boasted that the percentage of African-Americans voting early had dropped by 8.5 percent below 2012 levels, while white early voting was up by 22.5 percent.

They were optimistic that recent efforts by Republicans to systemically suppress minority voting in a state with a long history of racial discrimination and disenfranchisement of African-Americans appeared to be paying off. Yet, while Donald Trump won North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, lost his re-election race by a few thousand votes to Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat.

Mr. McCrory, a governor who brought disgrace and financial loss to his state by championing a bill to discriminate against gay and transgender people, demanded a recount and began scouring voting rolls for evidence of fraud. It was a hard-fought, acrimonious election, decided by a slim margin, but as provisional and absentee ballots were added to the tally in recent days, Mr. Cooper’s lead surpassed the 10,000 threshold that bars Mr. McCrory from requesting a taxpayer-funded recount.