NC Elections chairman quits over joke relating cows to women

CARY, N.C. – North Carolina’s Board of Elections Chairman has resigned after opening a statewide meeting of elections officials with a joke about cows and women who don’t want sex.

Gov. Roy Cooper accepted Democrat Robert Cordle’s resignation on Tuesday. WRAL reports Wake County Board of Elections member Gerry Cohen called the joke Cordle told Monday “misogynistic and wildly inappropriate.” Cordle apologized in his resignation letter.

His departure casts further uncertainty over a vote Thursday on new elections equipment. The board voted Monday to delay certification until August to consider requiring “human-readable marks on a paper ballot” as a security measure.

But they soon backtracked and set up the upcoming meeting. Cordle had favoured moving forward with certification, and it’s not clear if there are enough votes to do so without him.