NC Election Board Chair Resigns After Making Joke Comparing Women To Cows

Residents of Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, North Carolina make their way to cast their vote at precinct #2 on November 6, 2018. - Americans started voting Tuesday in critical midterm elections that mark the first ... Residents of Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, North Carolina make their way to cast their vote at precinct #2 on November 6, 2018. - Americans started voting Tuesday in critical midterm elections that mark the first major voter test of Donald Trump's controversial presidency, with control of Congress at stake. About three quarters of the 50 states in the east and center of the country were already voting as polls began opening at 6:00 am (1100 GMT) for the day-long ballot. (Photo by Logan Cyrus / AFP) (Photo credit should read LOGAN CYRUS/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Robert Cordle, the chairman of the North Carolina state Board of Elections, abruptly resigned Tuesday after making a lengthy, misogynistic joke to a crowd of 600 elections officials on Monday. 

“I sincerely apologize to those who heard my joke at the elections conference on Monday and all those affected by my words,” Cordle wrote in a resignation letter to Gov. Roy Cooper (D). He added that his resignation was effective immediately.


Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Elections who was in attendance at the conference, told TPM that Cordle’s joke was “bizarre.” 

“He led off with a greeting, which is not unusual for the meetings I’ve been to through the years,” Cohen said. “It took a while for people to realize that it was really a lengthy, filthy joke.” 

“He started talking about cows and steers not being able to mate,” Cohen continued. “It was simply bizarre. Not misogynistic at this stage, simply bizarre. I was just thinking at this point, I’m never going to get those five minutes of my life back.”

“He then got into making an analogy that a steer couldn’t mate with a cow and started an analogy to a wife that wouldn’t have sex with her husband,” he said. “And I was like, what?!”

Cohen described a very mixed crowd with a large number of women in attendance, and the palpable discomfort and bafflement of his table as Cordle’s joke continued.

“This is the kind of stuff — it’s never right obviously — but the kind of stuff I remember from meetings 40 years ago,” Cohen remembered. “These are the kind of off-color jokes I haven’t heard in a while.”

Cohen added that while his position is not a partisan one, he identifies as a Democrat, as does Cordle who was appointed by Cooper.

Correction: The person in the photo originally accompanying this story was misidentified as the Cordle in question. We regret the error.

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Notable Replies

  1. Telling jokes in a public forum is always a risky business. Telling long, stupid, and offensive jokes is never a good idea. The person running the sound system should have done him a favor and shut off the mike until the next speaker was up.

  2. Mutiple choice:

    A. Comedy is hard.
    B. Comedy is not pretty.

  3. North Carolina, you have a problem.

    [at least he resigned]

  4. “He then got into making an analogy that a steer couldn’t mate with a cow and started an analogy to a wife that wouldn’t have sex with her husband,” he said. “And I was like, what?!”

    “This is the kind of stuff — it’s never right obviously — but the kind of stuff I remember from meetings 40 years ago,” Cohen remembered. “These are the kind of off-color jokes I haven’t heard in a while.”

    This is really no mystery, nor career suicide. Cordle confided to friends weeks ago Adam Sandler had offered him a job, helping with the writing of his movie scripts.

  5. If it has wheels or balls, you’re going to have trouble with it.

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