Dear Editor,

For the last decade Pickens County has had an elections office that was one of the best in the state. The primary obligation of an elections office is to count and report the vote correctly. Many South Carolina counties have failed that requirement, but Pickens County has always correctly reported the vote. Under Mr. Allen’s leadership, the elections office has also provided the citizens with accurate and current information on their web site, email notification of all elections meetings for those who sign up and improved cybersecurity of the system. As a volunteer during in-person absentee voting, I have observed how well elections are organized and the support election workers express for Mr. Allen.

The night of the Presidential Preference Primary (PPP) I was in Pickens, watching results come in and calling them in to Edison Research. Everything was going like clockwork. Clerks waited in their cars to be met by workers with carts. The workers loaded the carts with tabulators, ballot boxes and other election equipment. Then the workers pulled the carts into the Administration Building, where equipment was whisked away to secure storage and the clerks turned in their documents. Clerks were checking in at a rate of one every two minutes. Everything was going well until two legislators arrived. Observers are allowed, but protection of the election process requires that observers watch quietly and not attempt to involve themselves in the process.

Consider a similar situation in a different setting. An elected official fails to convince a principal to fire an excellent teacher. Next, the official shows up in the teacher’s classroom and attempts to make changes in her lesson. Then, the official “authorizes” removal of her desk. The teacher and the principal resign.

The Election Director, his staff and all the Commissioners resigned.

We have all lost as a result. Mr. Allen, his staff and members of the Elections Commission have suffered an immense injustice The excellent quality of their work was neither valued nor understood by some elected officials. The people of Pickens County have lost the expertise and experience of these dedicated elections experts, who have reliably ensured the accuracy of our elections for the past decade.

Eleanor Hare

Clemson, SC