Last year, Democrats said Durham County had an undeserved reputation for election irregularities. On Monday, a grand jury indicted a former county elections worker.
Richard Robert Rawling, 59, of Cary, was indicted Monday on charges related to the mishandling of provisional ballot results during the March 2016 primary election, according to a news release from the Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.
Rawling was indicted on a felony count of obstruction of justice and a misdemeanor charge of failure to discharge a duty of his office.
According to the release, investigators found that irregularities resulting from Rawling’s actions did not affect any contest outcomes. There was no evidence Rawling altered ballot counts to support a particular political party or candidate.
Rawling ran provisional ballots through tabulators more than once, and ordered subordinates to do the same, investigators concluded. He also made manual changes to the ballot count. That was done so the results of the provisional canvass would match the number of approved provisional ballots.
“The State Board’s top priority is ensuring the integrity of elections so voters have confidence in the process,” said Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the state elections board. “We will continue to hold accountable elections workers and voters who violate election laws.”
The November gubernatorial outcome was delayed nearly a month in large part due to election challenges over a late count of 94,000 absentee ballots in Durham County. That situation followed discovery of the March 15 primary problems.
Rawling worked for the Durham County Board of Elections during the March 15 primary, but resigned later that month.
The state opened its investigation when Durham County elections officials notified investigators about the issue in early April 2016. Investigators provided a full report to the Durham County district attorney for possible prosecution in October.
Derek Bowens, the former elections director in New Hanover County, took over as Durham County’s elections director in June 2017. This incident occurred under a former director.