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Elections official resigns over gay marriage ban

The top elections official in a socially conservative North Carolina county has resigned, saying she could not in good conscience preside over the upcoming vote on a proposed amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage.

Former Harnett County Elections Director Sherre Toler said her romantic relationship with a man of a different race cemented her belief that the civil rights of people in love shouldn't be determined by majority rule.

State elections workers are discouraged from expressing personal opinions about issues on the ballot so they don't feed a perception that those counting the votes are biased. Toler, a registered Democrat, had the job 11 years.

She said her Jan. 3 resignation will enable her to speak publicly on an issue she is passionate about and work with groups seeking to defeat the May referendum.

"The rights of a minority group being put to a popular vote," the 51-year-old Toler told the Associated Press. "It's immoral and unconstitutional."

Same-sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina, but in September the state's Republican-led legislature voted to put a referendum on the state's primary ballot in May that would insert language into the state constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Harnett County, located about 45 minutes south of Raleigh, was once a rural Democratic stronghold populated largely by tobacco farmers. But as the county has grown it has also steadily moved into the Republican column, voting for the McCain-Palin ticket by a double digit margin in the 2008 presidential election.

Though state laws barring mixed-race marriages were struck down as unconstitutional in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling Loving v. Virginia more than 40 years ago, Toler said people still sometimes stare disapprovingly when she dines in restaurants with her boyfriend.

"Even in 2012, there are people who think my relationship should be illegal," said Toler, who has an adult son from a previous marriage.

Harnett County Commissioners Chairman Tim McNeill, a Republican currently campaigning for the state senate, praised Toler's performance in her years at the election board as fair and impartial.

McNeill said he had no clue why Toler was leaving until he first heard her speak about her views on same-sex marriage at a going-away reception with county officials last week.

"She has her view and I have mine," said McNeill, who has been on the board of commissioners about 12 years. "But she's the sort of person where we can talk about it without being uncivil and disagree without being obnoxious about it."

Toler said her family and friends have been very supportive of her stand, which became public after she sent an email explaining her decision to a handful of left-leaning blogs. In the same email, she also announced she is launching a political consulting firm with the hope of working for progressive candidates and groups.

That prompted some conservative bloggers to suggest her resignation was prompted more by a plan to make money than morality, pointing out she filed the required legal paperwork to create her business days before submitting her official letter of resignation with the county.

"In case you may have thought Ms. Toler's actions were a result of moral outrage _ the timing of her actions appear to be of the more calculated rather than the outraged type," wrote Karen Duquette, a commentator for the conservative Civitas Institute.

Toler said she hopes to work with candidates and groups seeking to defeat the marriage referendum.

"This isn't about me," said Toler, who quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: "'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.'"

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Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

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