The Wake County Republican Party is also calling on supporters of the new Wake County school board majority to turn out Tuesday in favor of the community-based school assignment resolution.

In a Sunday e-mail message, Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope Jr. tells the group's members that people need to show up Tuesday to counter the "left-wing obstructionists" who've packed the board meetings "with often unruly protesters." He tells Republicans it's time to show up Tuesday and be heard at the board meetings.

"Our board members are facing the slings and arrows every day trying to accomplish what we want them to do," Pope says in the e-mail message. "I promise you they will appreciate more than you can ever know if you show up and let them know the people whose wishes they are serving haven't abandoned them."

If Wake County Schools Superintendent Del Burns is ousted early tonight, it won't be because his supporters stayed silent.

As noted in today's article, there's been an active lobbying effort over the past few days by people who want the school board to allow Burns to stay on through his June 30 resignation date. Del's Army, a Facebook group organized by the son of former school board candidate Carlene Lucas, has become a central point for Burns' backers.

"Other parents like myself need to stand up and speak out," Lucas said. "We hope they listen to us and not the elite few."

It looks more and more like this year's races for county commissioner will turn into a battle over the Wake County school system.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Republicans running for commissioner are backing the new school board majority while Democrats are opposing the end of the diversity policy. At stake could be how much financial support the school board majority gets to implement the changes it hopes to make.

"I don't approve of that all," said Democratic Commissioner Lindy Brown of eliminating the diversity policy in the article. "I don't see the business community or the citizens of Wake County going that route."

Art Pope is denying being the architect of the new Wake County school board majority and Thomas Farr is saying he advised against sending out controversial postcards in the 1990 U.S. Senate campaign.

As noted in today's article, Pope said "to say I was the architect was overstated.” He's referring to an Oct. 7 e-mail message from Wake GOP finance chair Marc Scruggs in which he tells school board member Ron Margiotta that they followed Pope's plan in the election.

Pope says he raised money for the school board candidates and gave advice to Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope, his distant cousin. But he says that was all he did during the campaign.

Tony Gurley's election as chairman of the Wake County board of commissioners may not provide as much help to the new school board majority as it seems.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Democrats point out they still hold a majority on the commissioners. Democratic County Commissioner Stan Norwalk said the new school board members should keep in mind that commissioners have to sign off on school funding requests, including any new construction resulting from a neighborhood school policy.

"If they want neighborhood schools, they have nothing to do with that," Norwalk said in the article. "Since the 1970s, we have been building a countywide system. You can't snap your fingers and say you are going to a neighborhood system."

The Clay Aiken voting saga has apparently come to an end.

The Wake County Board of Elections decided at today's preliminary hearing that there's probable cause that Aiken wasn't qualified to vote in the Oct. 6 school board elections. But elections officials decided not to pursue the matter further because Aiken submitted a letter today withdrawing his voter registration.

In a blog post Tuesday, Aiken said he was making the change "rather than get into a technical dispute." Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope had filed the challenge, citing how Aiken has a home in Chatham County but used his mother's North Raleigh address on his voter registration.

Aiken has said he'll continue to speak out against the new Wake County school board's efforts to end the diversity policy.

Pop singer Clay Aiken is speaking out on tomorrow's Wake County Board of Elections preliminary hearing into his voter registration status.

Aiken said on his blog today he'll change his registration from his mother's Raleigh home "rather than get into a technical dispute." But he said he still plans out to speak out against the actions of the new Wake County school board majority.

"I may not be able to effect change through my vote, but I will join other concerned citizens in speaking truth to those who would reverse decades of progress in Wake County schools," Aiken writes. "I stand by my opposition to policies that threaten to resegregate schools and eliminate diversity. These policies will not prepare children for the larger world."

Clay Aiken's voter registration status goes before the Wake County Board of Elections on Wednesday.

The county board will hold a preliminary hearing to decide whether a more formal hearing is needed at a later time. If it continues, the board could remove Aiken from the voter rolls.

The county board could also decide to refer the matter to the state Board of Elections for further investigation. From there, the state board could refer the case to Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby for possible prosecution on voter fraud.

The hearing, based on the challenge filed by Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope, will be held at 11 a.m Wednesday in the ground floor conference room at 337 S. Salisbury Street in downtown Raleigh.

The new school board members have now taken their seats.

All four new members made brief speeches after being sworn in. Deborah Prickett singled out the Wake County Republican Party and the Wake Schools Community Alliance for their support during the campaign.

“This was a non-partisan race but as you know this became fairly political,” Prickett said. “I want to thank (Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope) and the Wake County Republican Party for stepping up to the plate. It shows they’re totally for families and children in this county.”

While it may not be likely, Clay Aiken could actually be prosecuted over voting in last month's school board election.

As noted in today's aricle by Josh Shaffer, the Wake County Board of Elections will hold a hearing on Wake GOP Chairman Claude Pope's challenge of Aiken's voter registration status. Although Pope's press release says they're not seeking punitive action against Aiken, that might not matter.

The Wake Board of Elections will first decide whether Aiken should still be registered to vote in the county. They'll ask Aiken questions such as where his pets spend the night and where he goes to sleep at night.