Richland County hires new director for troubled elections office
A new director will take over the troubled Richland County elections office.
The county election board voted Friday to hire Alexandria Stephens, the elections coordinator of Jefferson County, Alabama, which includes Birmingham.
Election board member Duncan Buell confirmed Stephens’ hiring Friday afternoon.
Stephens is expected to start in early July, Buell said.
“We’re pleased to be moving forward,” he said.
The Richland County elections office has been beset with issues since a botched election in 2012, when people waited for hours in long lines to vote with precincts having inadequate amounts of functioning voting machines. Some abandoned their chance to vote, and lawsuits were filed against the commission.
The county election commission has overseen a series of short-tenured interim and regular directors. Stephens will be the office’s eighth director since 2012, taking over the position from current interim director Terry Graham.
Last year, Gov. Henry McMaster completely dismantled the election commission after ballots were lost in an election.
Most recently, the June 9 primary election in Richland County was burdened by a shortage of poll workers, long lines and hours-long waits at some polling stations and allegations of incorrect ballots. Some of the problems were attributed to complications of running an election during the coronavirus pandemic.
Stephens will be tasked with righting the ship.
The elections director oversees all elections and voter registration in the county.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 2:19 PM.