Ex-Election Worker Charged With Altering 2016 Primary Votes

A former county elections administrator is facing charges that he altered the number of votes cast during last year's primary election.

A Durham County grand jury on Monday indicted 59-year-old Richard Rawling of Cary. Rawling was charged with felony obstruction of justice and with failure to discharge his official duties, a misdemeanor.

The Durham County elections board said last fall more than 1,000 provisional ballots were likely mishandled during the March 2016 primary election. Officials said the miscount didn't affect the primary's outcome.

State elections board officials said Monday there was no evidence Rawling altered ballot counts to support a particular political party or candidate. An investigation of last November's general election results found no other examples of administrative fraud.