Top SC election commissioner resigns after agency turmoil. Who will replace him?

Dennis Shedd, the leader of the commission responsible for overseeing South Carolina’s election agency, stepped down Wednesday.

“Somebody asked me why I was grinning yesterday, once I handed my letter to the governor, and I told him I was prepared to reretire,” Shedd said Wednesday during a scheduled January meeting.

Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Columbia attorney Robert Bolchoz to replace Shedd on Wednesday.

Shedd was chairman of the South Carolina Election Commission, a five-member panel appointed by the governor. He oversaw several turbulent months in South Carolina’s election agency, including the firing and arrest of the former executive director, an unpaid multimillion loan for ballot counters and a controversial request from the Trump administration for voters’ private data. McMaster chose Shedd, a retired federal judge, in March 2024 to lead the commission.

Shedd’s appointment ended in June 2025, but he stayed on to help navigate “issues with the agency,” according to his resignation letter dated Jan. 12. Concerns about former executive director Howard Knapp and the Justice Department’s voter roll request kept Shedd on the commission until now, Shedd said Wednesday. The issues in the agencies have now been addressed, and he believes the commission is in good hands with the current and future leadership.

“It was more turmoil and a lot more work than I thought,” Shedd said. “Because for a period of time, I’ll tell you, for about three weeks, it was 12 to 18 hours every single day.”

“At one point, I didn’t know who I could even talk to and trust at the agency,” he continued. “It was so interwoven with what was going on.”

McMaster praised Shedd in a news release about the changes.

“I thank Judge Shedd for his willingness to step in and answer the call to serve during a critical period for the State Election Commission,” McMaster said. “His steady leadership and guidance were exactly what our state needed and played a key role in maintaining the public’s confidence in our elections.”

Commissioner Joanna Day and Executive Director Jenny Wooten also thanked Shedd before his final meeting concluded Wednesday.

Three administrative election officials were fired or resigned last fall, including Knapp. The commission later described the reasons for Knapp’s firing in October, including allegedly falsifying documents to the commission, creating a toxic work environment and misleading the commission on a contract.

Knapp was arrested in late October. Warrants from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division show he was charged with misconduct while in office, embezzlement and ethics violations. Former deputy director Paige Salonich was also fired from the agency days after Knapp and later charged with wiretapping.

Amid the leadership changes, former commissioner Linda McCall resigned in September, citing “what went on” with the ouster of the agency’s leader and personal reasons.

McMaster appointed Angela Stringer, an Anderson resident, to replace McCall on the commission Wednesday, according to a news release.

Who will replace Shedd?

Bolchoz, an independent attorney practicing in West Columbia, will take over leading the South Carolina Election Commission, effective Thursday.

McMaster previously appointed Bolchoz to lead the state Department of Health and Environmental Control in 2022. The agency split up in 2024. Bolchoz stepped down after less than a year because he said he needed to focus on a legal client.

Bolchoz, a University of South Carolina law school graduate, served as the deputy district attorney in the Ninth Circuit solicitor’s office for several years and chief deputy attorney general in the late 1990s and 2017, according to a news release.

This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 10:47 AM.