James Yokeley, a county-level North Carolina elections leader who was charged with putting hard drugs in his granddaughter's and her friend's ice cream, has resigned from his seat on the Surry County Board of Elections, state officials said Thursday.

Yokeley was arrested Tuesday after investigators discovered video footage that indicated he was responsible for placing pills in the ice cream earlier this month, court records show. The pills tested positive for MDMA and cocaine, according to an arrest warrant. He now faces felony charges for drug possession, child abuse and food contamination, the document shows. Warrants obtained by WRAL said that his granddaughters were involved.

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On Friday, Wilmington police Lieutenant Greg Willett clarified that the two girls were actually his 16-year-old step-granddaughter and her 15-year-old friend.

Yokeley — who says the accusations are false — was appointed chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections by Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek earlier this year after Republicans seized control of election boards across the state. On Thursday, Boliek called for Yokeley to resign due to the criminal charges — and for the state elections board to at least strip him of his title as board chairman if he won't resign.

Yokeley resigned shortly after, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

"After much prayer, thoughtful reflection and consultation, I have concluded that it's in the best interest of the State Board of Elections and Surry County Board of Elections, regarding my own falsely accused circumstances, to step down at this time," Yokeley said in the letter.

He added: "I remain prayerfully confident that I will be exonerated of all accusations levied against me."

Yokeley didn't immediately respond to an additional request for comment.

"The arrest and investigation of the Surry County Board of Elections Chair is very disturbing," Boliek said Thursday. "This matter distracts from election management in Surry County and must be addressed quickly and directly. Our office is built on holding individuals accountable. He needs to resign, and Surry County needs a new Board of Elections chair."

Boliek later said Yokeley's resignation will allow Surry County to move forward quickly to find a replacement.

Yokeley has not been convicted of any crimes related to the incident. Earlier this month, police said, Yokeley was with his step-granddaughter and her friend in Wilmington, where he had purchased ice cream for them from a Dairy Queen restaurant.

Willett said that Yokeley bought the ice cream himself, while the two girls waited in the car. The 16-year-old was driving Yokeley's car at the time, and when she and her friend discovered the unusual object in their ice cream, they pulled into a nearby gas station, where they flagged down police and first responders who were already there.

After an investigation, police tested the objects and accused Yokeley of slipping pills containing compounds found in cocaine and MDMA into the ice cream. Police said they used video footage to support their allegations. The pills are undergoing further testing at a state lab for a more conclusive understanding.

"The street field tests basically are designed to test for compounds that make up illegal narcotics or narcotics in general," Willett said. "It indicates the compounds, the chemical compounds are there. So there's no question we're talking about drugs here. It's just getting to the point where it's isolated, identifying exactly what drugs are there, that's in progress right now with the lab."

Dairy Queen didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, though they are not to blame for the incident, according to Wilmington police.

Yokeley joined the board after state election officials removed both of its Republican members on allegations that they were promoting election denial conspiracy theories and for refusing to certify local election results despite having no evidence of fraud.

Other Republican leaders in the area, a rural part of the state north of Winston-Salem and home to Mount Airy, have also pushed conspiracy theories about voting. In 2022 the county commissioners invited Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief executive who has spread numerous unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud, to speak at one of their board meetings.

The county's professional elections director also reported receiving death threats after challenging unsubstantiated claims about election integrity, WRAL reported, and sometimes had to request police protection for her staff at the county elections office.