Forsyth Board To Hear Election Protest Monday

The Forsyth County Board of Elections will hold a hearing Monday on an election protest filed by Katherine Fansler. She came in fourth in a race for three seats on the school board.

Fansler says the protest is not about winning the race. She doesn't dispute the final tally showing she lost by about 300 votes.  But she says she saw irregularities during the election, and wants voters to know what happened.  

"I personally saw a discrepancy in hundreds of ballots at the precinct level," she says. "Ballots that were not accounted for. I believe that as a citizen it is my job to insist that we account for those ballots and make sure that all ballots that were cast are tabulated in the election."

Elections director Steve Hines disputes Fansler's numbers, saying the actual amount of unaccounted-for ballots totals fewer than 10. He says that's about normal for the number of paper ballots handled. But he admits the election didn't go as smoothly as he would have liked.

"We obviously have some things we want to try to improve upon and adjust and move forward so that we don't have these kinds of problems in the future," he says.

Monday's action will be a preliminary hearing on Fansler's protest. If the board decides there is just cause, it will hold a full hearing. If not, they can dismiss the protest. Fansler says if the protest is dismissed she will appeal to the state Board of Elections.