Staff changes not expected over primary

By Mike Cherney - The Sun News

Three members of the Horry County Election Commission said they do not anticipate any staffing changes in the county election office after a programming error disabled voting machines during last Saturday's S.C. Republican presidential primary.

Donna Royson, the deputy director of the S.C. State Election Commission, said Tuesday the state commission will help the county determine exactly what went wrong.

Larry Leagans, Gene Sparks and Deborah Johnson, three members of the county commission, said the commission will meet after the S.C. Democratic presidential primary this Saturday to ensure that similar mistakes do not happen again.

"We're going to try to turn over every stone that needs to be turned over," Leagans said. "I don't see any kind of staffing issues. A mistake was made, and we need to find out why the mistake was made."

During the S.C. Republican primary, State Rep. Tracy Edge, a campaign official with Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential bid, called for Sandy Martin, the county's election director, to be fired. McCain won the state and the county's votes.

"They need to explain how not changing any staff is going to be sure that no more mistakes are going to be made in the future," Edge said Tuesday. "They need to make a complete report to tell us all exactly what went wrong and why and who failed to do their job."

The five members of the election commission are responsible for hiring and firing the county's election director. Leagans said the commission meets on an as-needed basis.

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