July 30, 2021: Lora Walters, former Deputy Director of the Cecil County Board of Elections, Pleads Guilty to Misconduct in Office

Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard announced today that on July 29, 2021, Lora Walters, who formerly served as the Deputy Director of the Cecil County Board of Elections, pleaded guilty to Misconduct in Office.

According to the Statement of Facts in support of the plea, in her capacity as the Deputy Director of the Cecil County Board of Elections, Ms. Walters was responsible for registering local candidates for public office. As part of that process, Ms. Walters was required to collect a financial disclosure form from all prospective candidates. Ms. Walters failed to collect the form from a prospective candidate when the candidate registered to run for office. When the absence of the required financial disclosure came to light, Ms. Walters altered a subsequently provided financial disclosure form to make it appear as though it had been filed eight months prior, at the time it was required. Ms. Walters then provided false information about her alterations to the form to other election officials and to the court in a civil proceeding.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, sentencing was at the discretion of the court. Ms. Walters was sentenced today by the Honorable Keith A. Baynes of the Circuit Court for Cecil County to a period of three years’ supervised probation before judgment.

“Transparency and fairness are essential elements to the integrity of our elections,” said Howard. “Our office will continue to seek to hold accountable public officials who undermine the transparency and fairness of the electoral process by abusing their position of trust.”

The Office of the State Prosecutor would like to acknowledge the work of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lindsay E. Bird and Special Agent Cynthia Thomas.

A copy of the statement of facts that was entered in support of the plea at the July 29, 2021 hearing can be found HERE.