The Forsyth County Board of Elections will hold a hearing on Friday to consider three charges leveled by Jeff Polston, the Republican candidate for Forsyth County Clerk of Superior Court, as part of his protest of the Nov. 2 election.
On Tuesday, the board of elections combined three similar allegations into one charge and decided it rose to the level of probable cause. The board will determine on Friday if any of Polston’s allegations regarding violations of election law have merit. The hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Forsyth County Government Center.
Democrat Susan Speaks Frye defeated Polston by 551 votes in the general election, according to certified election results.
The board will consider the following charges: a voter was allowed to cast a ballot after the polls had closed on Nov. 2; an election worker cast ballots for two people without asking them who they wanted to vote for; and an election observer was restricted by poll workers at the Polo Recreation Center precinct.
Chairman Linda Sutton, a Democrat, voted against Polston’s claim that poll workers restricted the movements of an election observer. However, board members Jerry D. Jordan, a Republican, and Frank Dickerson, a Democrat, voted that the charge rose to the level of probable cause.
As Sutton read through the amended protest line by line, Jordan observed that Polston consistently failed to provide factual evidence to back up his claims.
Among the charges, Polston alleged that voters were registered illegally; people voted in the wrong precincts; people who lived outside the county were allowed to vote at Forsyth polling locations; poll judges provided false information to voters; poll judges failed to follow election rules; electioneering took place inside polling locations and candidates gave items of value to individuals to influence their vote.
After the board ruled, it opened up the floor for public comments. Several members of the audience asked why Susan Speaks Frye had not been sworn in as Clerk of Superior Court.
“Why is it that this protest doesn’t allow the Clerk of Court to be seated?” Jimmie Lee Bonham, a former school board candidate, asked.
Frye expressed frustration with the entire process. She noted her status as the only victorious candidate in Forsyth County yet to be sworn in.
“I’m the victim for people trying to prove a point about the entire election process,” Frye said. “I would ask for this process to go on but I should be sworn in.”
Jordan explained that the responsibility of authorizing Frye's swearing in falls to the NC Administrative Office of the Courts. Forsyth Director of Elections Rob Coffman elaborated further, explaining that the NC State Board of Elections general counsel decided that certificate of elections would go to all winners in Forsyth except for Frye.
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