South Carolina county director quits after uncounted votes

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A county election director in South Carolina has resigned after reports that more than 1,000 ballots were not counted last year.

Richland Co. elections director Rokey Suleman steps down. FILE

Richland Co. elections director Rokey Suleman steps down. FILE

News outlets reported Richland County elections and voter registration director Rokey Suleman resigned over the weekend.

Suleman’s resignation comes after the Post and Courier of Charleston reported that nearly 1 percent of the 142,000 votes cast in November’s election were not counted.

State election officials say they don’t think the uncounted ballots would have changed the outcome of any races.

Richland elections board chairwoman Jane Emerson said the decision to quit Saturday was Suleman’s. Emerson said she thinks he wanted to step down while officials figure out what happened.

Richland County elections have been plagued with problems since the 2012 presidential election, when many voters waited hours to vote.