City Manager Stays In Euharlee, Declines Floyd County Elections Job

BARTOW COUNTY, GA — A city supervisor in Bartow County who was about to take over the troubled elections office in an adjacent county changed his mind at the last minute, choosing instead to stay in Euharlee.

City Manager James Stephens had already accepted the job of Floyd County Elections Supervisor and was set to start Thursday. The Euharlee City Council even held a reception in Stephens’ honor, thanking him for his service to the town.

But after a “lengthy executive session” Tuesday night, according to WBHF Community Radio, Mayor Craig Guyton told the council that Stephens had asked to withdraw his resignation. The council accepted his request and immediately offered him a contract through 2025, reported the Cartersville radio station.

“I am grateful,” Stephens told WBHF after the meeting. “I am sorry for the roller coaster.”

Stephens’ change of heart put Floyd County back on a roller coaster of its own, one it had been riding ever since an audit of the 2020 general election uncovered more than 2,500 uncounted ballots. Soon thereafter, the county fired its chief elections clerk, Robert Brady.

Most of the newly found ballots went to then-President Donald Trump. However, they didn't change the election outcome in GOP-leaning Floyd County, which already had chosen Trump by a large margin over President-elect Joe Biden. Still, Trump cashed in on the mistake, with tweets portraying it as evidence of unfounded voter-fraud allegations.

Vanessa Waddell, a long-time Floyd County elections employee, took over as interim supervisor. But amidst what The Washington Post reported as partisan attacks in a March 14 article headlined “Gutted,” the elections board chose not to offer Waddell the job permanently.

“Instead, it (the board) would announce its choice was a 58-year-old White man from a neighboring county, a city manager whose background was in accounting, was not certified in elections and had never worked as an elections supervisor,” the Post reported.

That unidentified man was Stephens, who later started training for the job. Waddell is Black.

On Wednesday, Floyd County appointed Pete McDonald, a former chair of the county elections board, as sole interim elections supervisor, according to The Rome News-Tribune.

Read the story from WBHF Community Radio.

RELATED:

• More Than 2,500 Uncounted Early Ballots Found In GOP-Led County
• Floyd County Fires Elections Chief Over Uncounted Ballots