COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Richland County Elections Commission has hired a new elections director, less than two weeks after a mess at the polls led to confusion and long lines at some precincts.
The board said Friday Alexandria Stephens has been hired to lead the agency. She currently is the Elections Coordinator for the Jefferson County Commission in Birmingham, Alabama.
"Her enthusiasm about wanting to be here. As I said, she has worked in elections for the last eight years or so and as we interviewed her she expressed a strong desire to be here and to be a leader," said Richland County Voter Registration and Election Board Chairman Charles Austin.
Austin said Stephens will begin her tenure on July 6, 2020.
Stephens is aware of recent issues with the elections office and will spend her first few weeks meeting with various stakeholders, according to Austin.
"We're excited about the opportunity to work with Director Stephens. I believe she is going to bring an energy level," Austin said.
The agency had been led by an interim director, Terry Graham, since May of 2019.
Austin said Director Stephens would likely decide Graham's future, however, Austin said Graham will stay on until Stephens arrives.
Back on June 9, issues were reported as soon as the precincts began. Some people went to their precinct and noticed the building was closed, even though online records showed that precinct would still be open. That forced some to drive miles away to another location.
Other people said ballots appeared to be incomplete, or they received the wrong ballot entirely. There was even one case of a poll worker writing names by hand on a provisional ballot.
At a precinct at Spring Valley High School, some waited 7 to 8 hours to vote. The final ballots weren't cast until 12:45 a.m. the next day, almost 6 hours after polls closed.
The commission said the problems were due to a lack of poll volunteers and inadequate training for those who did show up. Complicating matters was the COVID-19 crisis, where people were still trying to maintain social distancing, although tight hallways in precincts made that hard
In response, the State Election Commission said they would assist Richland County with the primary runoff, set for June 23. In that contest, there are four county council primaries that must be decided.