Resident urges chairmanresignation over alleged election-record gaps; county residents respond

Jim Fink, a county resident, used the public-comment period at the July 21 Rockingham County Board of Commissioners meeting to raise allegations about missing campaign finance and election records and to call for the resignation of the boards chairman. Fink said a sequence of public-records requests and email exchanges showed gaps in the Rockingham County Board of Elections records, and he accused the chairman of using a government email address to communicate with the Board of Elections in a way he described as potentially "weaponiz[ing] the county commission against the hardworking employees of the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office." Fink read portions of email exchanges and said some records could not be located; he also asked why the chairman did not notify the North Carolina State Board of Elections when the discrepancy was discovered. Diane Parnell, another member of the public who spoke after Fink, said her earlier private conversation with the board of elections director was based on hearsay and that she did not want an individual to be blamed for unverified claims. Parnell said county officials were looking into missing records but that there was no confirmed evidence presented at the meeting about who was responsible for any missing files. The speakers named the local Board of Elections office and its staff, including Kathy Clark, and cited public-records searches and state board websites as sources of information. During his remarks, Fink cited a retention statute he identified as "NCGS 01/1937" when discussing record-preservation obligations for county boards. No formal response or formal action was taken by the board during the public-comment period; the meeting moved on to other agenda items afterward.