SC’s elections director steps down three months earlier than planned. Here’s why
South Carolina’s state elections director, who announced her resignation in May after she pushed for COVID-19 health precautions before the 2020 election, has stepped down three months ahead of her original leave date.
Marci Andino’s last day on the job was Friday, Oct. 1, said state elections’ spokesman Chris Whitmire, adding she’s accepted a new job as the director of the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, part of the nonprofit Center for Internet Security.
Andino notified the five-member State Elections Commission of her planned move on Sept. 15, though she had initially planned to stay on through the end of December.
Voter Services Director Howard Knabb will serve as interim director until commissioners find a permanent replacement, Whitmire said.
“They’re moving forward with the process,” Whitmire said. “I believe the board would like to find the best person for the job as quickly as possible as any organization would be with any vacancy, but I think they’ll be very deliberative about it and make sure they find the right person.”
It’s unlikely the election commission names Andino’s permanent replacement before November when municipalities and counties hold local elections.
“They’re obviously important and we do support those elections,” Whitmire said. “It’s a good starting point for anybody who’s in the chair.”
Prior to her resignation, Andino was the agency’s fourth director, running elections since 2003.
As election director, she implemented a new statewide voter registration system in 2011 and oversaw the state’s photo ID law and new candidate filing process in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Last year, and what ultimately led to her departure, Andino pushed for expanded access to absentee early voting and mail-in options as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19. She also asked lawmakers to allow voters to request absentee ballots online and to remove the witness signature requirement on absentee ballots.
The latter request, which frustrated Republican leaders, eventually was challenged in court and reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Our team again answered the call in 2020,” Andino wrote in her resignation to the board in May. “I am proud to say, thanks to hundreds of steadfast state and county election professionals and thousands of poll managers who stepped up to serve, we conducted the best general election in history under the worst circumstances.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 9:57 AM with the headline "SC’s elections director steps down three months earlier than planned. Here’s why."
