Challenger Michael Schlink topped incumbent councilwoman Linda Lyons by two votes in an official tally released Tuesday, but the final word won’t come until the Wake County Board of Elections settles two voters’ complaints about the board’s disqualification of at least 19 absentee ballots.

Also Tuesday, Lyons called for a recount, according to the elections board.

The written protests argue that the board disenfranchised voters by refusing to accept 11 or more absentee ballots witnessed and delivered by Lyons. The identical protests also claim that the board should have accepted eight mailed ballots that arrived after Election Day.

The county elections board will hold a preliminary hearing on the protests at 1 p.m. Friday, and may then schedule a full hearing.

“We would like a systematic review of all of the rejected and uncounted absentee ballots,” said Michael Weisel, an attorney representing the complainants.

Cherie Poucher, director of the county elections board, said the body was following the State Board of Elections’ administrative code when it rejected the ballots.

State law forbids candidates from co-signing or handling absentee ballot packages, as officials said Lyons did. The breach is a misdemeanor, so the election board rejected the ballots as improperly approved. But the protests, both represented by the law firm Bailey & Dixon, argue that the board should accept those votes.

“This failure impermissibly disenfranchises these innocent voters,” the complaints stated. State law requires the counting of all ballots, including those with technical errors, so long as the voter’s intent is clear, the protest argued.

The protests also hold that the board wrongfully rejected ballots that arrived up to three days after Election Day. State law requires the admittance of such votes as long as they were postmarked by Election Day, the complaints argue. Poucher again said the board was following the administrative code, which only allows that extra time for military ballots.

In settling the dispute, the county board will consider state law, not the administrative code, Poucher said. The questions could see appeals to the state elections board and the courts. Lyons did not respond to a call for comment Tuesday afternoon.