Richland Co. Hiring Procedures Under Scrutiny After Election Debacle

Three weeks after an election that saw thousands of Richland County residents wait for hours in line to vote, a few questions have been answered. Plenty more have been raised, however.

The matter of who won and who lost was confirmed on Friday by the Richland County Election Commission and then by the state on Monday.

There is little doubt that there weren’t as many voting machines at polling places as there were supposed to be. Much of the blame for the troubles on Election Day has fallen on the shoulders of Lillian McBride, the Director of Richland County Elections and Voter Registration. After the election was certified on Friday, Liz Crum, Chair of the Board of Elections, confirmed that an investigation had already begun.

Several officials have called for McBride to be dismissed or to step down. Others have suggested that McBride’s appointment last year was a conflict of interest as she was hired by a group in favor of the Penny Tax and a new election is in order because of the conflict.

Rep. Nathan Ballentine (R-71) who is a member of the Richland County Legislative Delegation told Patch that he had little input in to how McBride was hired or how any department heads are hired, for that matter.  “We never get to meet candidates or get to know them,” Ballentine said.

Ballentine contrasted this with his experience as part of the Lexington County Legislative Delegation, where, he said, every candidate for a department head position comes before the entire body. In Richland County however, only the Appointments Committee hears from candidates, according to Ballentine. He also said that the Appointments Committee has only one Republican on it, Sen. John Courson (R-20) and effectively works at the wishes of Democrats.

Antjuan Seawright, spokesman for delegation member Sen. Darrell Jackson (D-21), disputed Ballentine’s statements and any implication that McBride’s hiring was out of the norm.

Seawright explained that the Appointments Committee handles all the hiring of directors and department heads in Richland County. Last year, when the Office of Elections and Department of Voter Registration merged, McBride was named the new director by the delegation, but the Appointments Committee would handle any future hiring. “(McBride’s hiring) went through all the proper channels and she was approved unanimously,” Seawright said.

Seawright also suggested to Patch that the problems of Election Day have been blown out of proportion by the media. “We haven’t had a single constituent call us about it. We’re getting calls about the Department of Revenue hack but not about the election. The only people interested in that seem to be (the media),” he said.

Still, Seawright told Patch that plenty of questions still need to be answered about what went wrong and why on Election Day and that Jackson is as interested in hearing those answers as much as anyone. He’ll get his chance on Monday at 1 in the Gressette Building when the delegation holds public hearings.

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