Aiken is no longer a Wake voter

RALEIGH -- Singer Clay Aiken has withdrawn his name from Wake County voter rolls, ending an official inquiry into his qualifications to vote in the county.

In a preliminary hearing Wednesday, the Wake Board of Elections decided probable cause exists that Aiken is not qualified to vote in Wake, because he lives in Chatham County. But because the board received a letter from Aiken rescinding his registration, it voted unanimously not to schedule a full hearing on the challenge.

Aiken's voting habits came to light after he posted an item on his Web site referring to new members of the Wake school board as "selfish idiots." Election records show that Aiken voted in that contentious Wake election in October. He was registered to vote using his mother's North Raleigh address.

Claude Pope, chairman of the Wake County Republican Party, challenged Aiken's qualification to vote. During Wednesday's preliminary hearing, he presented property and mortgage records as evidence that Aiken lives in Chatham. He also showed a short news clip in which Aiken shows a TV reporter around his home.

"Because we received the letter, the issue is moot," said board secretary Aida Doss Havel.

Election officials think this was the first such challenge in Wake County in at least two decades.

Pope told the board that he filed the challenge in part to raise the public's awareness of proper voter registration. After the hearing he said he didn't think Aiken purposely skirted the law.

"I think it was an honest mistake."