Don Wright, general counsel for the State Board of Elections, would not comment on the case involving Lyle Estill and wife Tami Schwerin because it is an ongoing criminal investigation. The district attorney could charge the couple with perjury, he said.

Estill said Tuesday that he didn't know the law prohibits residents from registering under a business address or second home.

The matter started Earlier this month, when Estill and Schwerin tried to register to vote in Pittsboro even though they live in Moncure, about 10 miles south. The election is Tuesday.

Estill, a founder of Piedmont Biofuels, and Schwerin, a founder of the Chatham Marketplace co-op grocery store, came to the Chatham County Board of Elections office Oct. 12 -- the last day to register -- said Dawn Stumpf, director of elections.

They requested a change of address form and wrote their new address as 224 East St. in Pittsboro.

"I came out and saw they had done that, and I said, 'That's not where they live,' " Stumpf said. "He's a well-known figure, and they live in Moncure."

Stumpf notified the state board, went to the address and determined the couple was not living there, so she denied their request in a letter dated Oct. 23. To qualify for a change of address, a resident must abandon his other home, she said.

"We found they did not abandon their home -- they have not left their children or their pets in Moncure," she said.

Estill said he spends most of his waking time in Pittsboro -- he works there, he eats there -- so he wanted to vote there, too. He said he leased rooms at the 224 East St. address for employees of his plant. He also said he has hired an architect to build a home in Pittsboro.

Estill and his wife both signed their names under a section of the registration form that says, "I attest under penalty of perjury that I have been resident at the address listed above, and will have resided at that address for 30 days before the next election."

Estill rents the rooms from Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller, whom he supports for re-election.

In an interview Monday, Voller said he leases the building from the owner and then subleases it to others. Piedmont Biofuels rents two rooms, and an intern lives there. The building is zoned for offices on the first floor and living quarters on the second, he said.

Voller, who won his election two years ago by 11 votes, had no comment on Estill's claiming to live in his building.

Campaign reports say Estill and Schwerin gave Pittsboro Together $1,000 and $250 respectively, and both listed the same Moncure address. The political action group has endorsed Voller.

Estill has been writing a monthly column for The Chapel Hill News, which is owned by The News & Observer.

Pittsboro lawyer

Soon after Estill's registration issues surfaced, Voller's supporters quickly pointed out another person who is incorrectly registered to vote in Pittsboro.

They said lawyer Cindy Perry is registered under her work address on Hillsboro Street but lives on her farm in Alamance County.

Perry has represented developers in the county.

Reached at her office Tuesday, Perry said she lived on the second floor of her office building between 1998 and 2000. Since then, she has lived there part time and most of the time at the Alamance farm, she said. She sold the building in July, she said.

Despite that, she said she has voted in Pittsboro and Chatham County elections, including in 2005 and 2006, she said. This year, she said, she plans to change her registration to Alamance County. As of Tuesday, Perry was still registered in Chatham County at her law office address.

Stumpf said she expects someone to challenge Perry's registration if she votes Tuesday.

Since Estill and Schwerin tried to register in Pittsboro, the Chatham County Board of Elections has started telling residents changing their registration that they must permanently live at the new addresses, Stumpf said.