A Durham County grand jury has indicted Richard Robert Rawling of Cary, a former Durham County elections worker, on charges related to the mishandling of provisional-ballot results during the March 2016 primary election. The indictment was handed down on Monday on counts of obstruction of justice, which is is felony, and failure to discharge a duty of his office, which is a misdemeanor, the N.C. State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement said in a release. Rawling worked for the Durham County Board of Elections during the March 15 primary, before resigning later that month. The N.C. State Board of Elections opened an investigation into the election in April 2016.
During that primary, a discrepancy was discovered within a week after a local canvass of votes, which appeared to be related to Durham County Board of Election’s staff counting about 200 provisional ballots twice to get the ballot count to match.
… Investigators from the N.C. State Board of Elections determined that Rawling, 59, ran or ordered others to run provisional ballots through tabulators more than once and made manual changes to the ballot count so the results of the provisional canvass would match the number of approved provisional ballots.
Full Article: Grand jury indicts former Durham County elections worker Richard Robert Rawling of Cary | News & Observer.