RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A former county elections administrator in North Carolina has pleaded guilty to charges that he altered the number of votes cast during a 2016 primary election. 

The N.C. State Board of Elections said in a news release on Wednesday that Richard Robert Rawling pleaded guilty on Jan. 5 to failing to discharge duties of his office. The news release said Rawling received a suspended, 30-day jail sentence, a year of unsupervised probation, a $500 fine and court costs. 

The Durham County elections board said more than 1,000 provisional ballots were likely mishandled during the March 2016 primary election. The board said the miscount didn't affect the primary's outcome.

State elections board officials said there was no evidence that Rawling altered ballot counts to support a particular political party or candidate.