Type:
Press MentionDate of Release or Mention:
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
By Nick Reynolds
COLUMBIA — State officials are largely remaining silent over the sudden firing of the state’s top election official less than two months before towns and cities across the state head to the polls Nov. 4.
S.C. Elections Commissioner Howard Knapp was let go Sept. 17 on a narrow, 3-2 vote by the commission’s board.
The move also comes as the state elections office is in the process of figuring out how to meet a demand by the federal Department of Justice to turn over key data on each of the state’s 3.3 million registered voters.
The elections commission itself has offered little beyond a statement from board Chairman Dennis Shedd — appointed to lead the body by Gov. Henry McMaster in 2024 — acknowledging the vote.
He stated only that it was an expression of a “desire for new leadership” and unrelated to any election-related conduct.
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In their silence, speculation has abounded. Others have noted the commission has shown being impervious to partisan influence, noting the commission’s successful defense of a 2024 lawsuit by a conservative group seeking residents’ voting records.
“Our impression has been that the state election commission has operated as it was intended to: as largely independent of political interest,” said Lynn Teague, a vice president for issues and action at the South Carolina chapter of League of Women Voters.“That’s not without exception, but on the whole we believe that it has been managed well,” she added. “So we are especially puzzled by the sudden development of the firing of the director.”
Read the full article at the link above.
League to which this content belongs:
South Carolina
