Democratic challenger Larry Kissell trailed four-term Republican Rep. Robin Hayes by 329 votes after the Nov. 7 election, but a count of provisional ballots and a machine recount that ended Wednesday found Hayes' margin fell by about 150 votes, the New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported Thursday.

Johnnie McLean, the chief deputy director of North Carolina's board of elections, said ballots in 3 percent of the precincts will be inspected by elections officials Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. A district-wide manual recount will be ordered if the sampling reveals a statistical inconsistency, McLean said.

In the campaign, Hayes raised $2.1 million to Kissell's $451,000. Kissell spent it all but $35, the newspaper said.