GRANVILLE COUNTY – A grand jury in Granville County on Tuesday returned felony and misdemeanor indictments against a former Granville County elections worker. Joy Yvette Wilkerson, 41, of Henderson, is alleged to have altered voter registrations. The State Board of Elections says that the alleged misconduct was discovered and corrected before the 2016 general election.Wilkerson faces four counts of unlawful voter registration, a Class I felony, and one count of unlawful altering of voter registrations, a Class 2 misdemeanor. “The felony and misdemeanor counts in the indictments brought by the Granville County District Attorney’s Office reflect the seriousness of the charges against Ms. Wilkerson,” said Chief Investigator Joan Fleming of the N.C. State Board of Elections in a statement. “The State Board of Elections takes seriously any allegations of tampering with voter records, and will continue to actively pursue investigations of election officials alleged to have abused their positions of public trust.” In late 2015, Wilkerson was screened and hired through a temporary staffing agency to work at the Granville County Board of Elections in preparation for the 2016 presidential election. According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, Tonya Burnette, Granville County elections director, determined in June of 2016 through a review of records that the voter registration records had been changed without authorization. Burnette notified the State Board of Elections, which investigated the matter and sent a full report about the case to the district attorney’s office for Granville County for possible prosecution.
Grand jury indicts former elections worker in Granville County
