A state-appointed North Carolina elections official resigned from his post on Thursday, officials said, after he was arrested and accused of spiking his granddaughters' ice cream with illicit narcotics.

James Edwin Yokeley Jr., 66, had been chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections before he submitted his letter of resignation.

"This decision has not been made lightly," Yokeley wrote to the board. "After much prayer, thoughtful reflection and consultation, I have concluded that it's in the best interest of the State Board of Elections, regarding my own falsely accused circumstances, to step down at this time."

Yokeley had stopped at a Sheetz gas station on Aug. 8 and flagged down a passing police officer to report that "his two juvenile granddaughters had found two hard ob

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