From Staff Reports

After two delays, the Buncombe County Board of Elections announced that it planned to certify election results at a public meeting at 2 p.m. Nov. 28.

Moreover, provisional and absentee ballots could have an impact on the District 2 county commissioners race in which Republican incumbent Mike Fryar leads Democratic challenger Nancy Nehls Nelson by 307 votes.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections will certify results at 11 a.m. Nov. 29. 

The delay was pending a court-ordered statewide inquiry into the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles voter registration process.

As many as 681 ballots could be affected by the DMV investigation, according to Trena Parker, director of Buncombe County Election Services.

County elections staff are recommending that those 681 ballots be disapproved because they could not locate any record of an attempt to properly register, but the state could locate some of those registrations, which might have been improperly filed by the DMV.

The Buncombe Board of Elections reportedly was abe to process about 355 provisional ballots — the majority of which were accepted, as per staff recommendation — at its Nov. 17 meeting.

Several ballots were rejected because of name confusion between fathers and sons with the same name. The sons cast ballots in their fathers’ names. The sons were not actually registered, so the board rejected their ballots in favor of their fathers’ ballots.