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The House vote on whether to override Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of the Racial Justice Act repeal is apparently close. So close, in fact, the appointment of a single member could turn the tide.

The Racial Justice Act (background) allows death row inmates to challenge their convictions based on statistical evidence.

Democrats largely back the measure, but the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed what amounts to a repeal of the measure during a special session in late November and early December.

Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed the repeal measure.

When the governor vetoes a bill and the General Assembly is out of session for more than 30 days, she’s required to call them back in to session.

Today is that day.

The Senate vote is not really in question. The repeal passed easily there, and Republicans control 31 of 50 seats there, more than enough for the three-fifths vote needed for an override.

House Republicans, on the other hand, control only 68 of 120 seats, or four short of the three-fifths needed if everyone is present and voting. While a few members are absent, today’s drama revolves around someone who is very much in the building.

Back in December, Perdue appointed Rep. David Guice, a Republican, to run her probation and parole department. That left a vacancy in the House that the local Republican executive committee decided to fill with former Rep. Trudi Walend.

Perdue must give an official blessing to Walend’s appointment, something she has not done yet.

Now, if Perdue takes no action, Walend becomes official on Jan. 10. However, in order to have her vote today, Perdue has to sign off.

As of 3 p.m., that sign-off hasn’t happened.

Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam, the House Majority Leader, told me earlier today that he thought if Walend were seated, Republicans would have enough votes to override Perdue’s veto. Without it, he was less sure.

And at a 2:15 p.m. news conference, Speaker Thom Tillis called on Perdue to appoint Walend.

By blocking Walend, “She (Perdue) is artificially changing the baseline of votes,” Tillis said. He promised that the General Assembly would stay in session until Walend was appointed or became automatically eligible to serve. Only at that point, Tillis said, would the House move forward with a vote.

Tillis said that he was still not sure whether Republicans had the votes to win the override vote.

All that maneuvering seems to be based on the assumption that Walend will vote with the GOP majority. So I asked her if she would.

“She has not told me yet,” Tillis interjected.

When Walend spoke up, she repeated, “I haven’t told him yet,” indicating Tillis.

It’s hard for me to imagine she would buck the party, but it’s still an interesting gap in what we know.

The Senate came back into session at 3:20 p.m. and seems ready to start debating the RJA repeal bill.

Update: The Senate has voted to override the governor's RJA veto 31-19.

Update 2: Perdue has officially appointed Walend. From Perdue press secretary Chris Mackey:

“Rep. Walend did not file the required ethics disclosure form until sometime this afternoon -- the Governor’s office checked with the Ethics Commission at both 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and the required form had not been filed. Gov. Perdue signed Rep. Walend’s appointment shortly after learning that the required ethics disclosure had been submitted. Perhaps Speaker Tillis was not aware of the requirements of North Carolina law when he held his press conference this afternoon.”