Buncombe elections board sustains 25 voter-registration challenges, directs removal from rolls

The Buncombe County Board of Elections sustained 25 voter-registration challenges on motions made during its meeting, directing staff to remove the challenged names from the county roll.

The challenges, presented and summarized by elections staff member Maggie, were largely based on matches to death records and other registration mismatches, including name and date-of-birth discrepancies. The board called each challenged registration by name, gave any representatives or interested parties an opportunity to speak and considered office research before voting. After discussion the board moved to sustain the challenges as presented. The motion carried and the clerk recorded the outcome as sustained; staff said they would process removals the following day and upload the reason codes to the voter file.

The board’s hearing followed the preliminary challenges the board considered at its prior meeting. Elections staff explained standard procedures: challengers have the opportunity to present evidence, each challenged voter is notified and given due-process opportunities, and the clerk provides research notes collected by the office showing where records matched or mismatched official data. Board members and staff repeatedly emphasized the office’s practice to contact households and to provide relatives an avenue to file removals when appropriate.

Elections staff said the challenges were categorized to make the hearing easier to administer. Staff described common mismatch reasons shown in the research notes, including maiden-name differences, transcription or typographical errors on death certificates, and small date differences that required additional verification. Staff also said they mailed notices to households and attempted phone contact when numbers were available.

The board asked staff to maintain clear documentation of each sustained challenge. After the vote, election staff committed to marking each removed registration with the reason “sustained challenge” and to upload the removal data to the voter file so future reports would show the change.

The action was a formal removal of the challenged registrations; the board did not discuss any change to statewide procedures or to the county’s process for detecting matches, though members asked staff whether the state is considering changes to registration-matching procedures.

The board thanked staff for the preparation and research that supported the hearing.