ATLANTA (AP) Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said Friday the state's election director has resigned at his request.
Linda Ford, who had served as elections director since 2010, stepped down because of a "technical error'' in which nearly 8,000 Georgia voters had their status changed from ``inactive'' to ``cancelled'' in late February 2014, Kemp said.
It's common practice for Kemp's office to update Georgia voter rolls and transfer long-time inactive voters to ``cancelled'' status. However, the batch of voters that cost Ford her job had their status changed within 90 days of the May 20, 2014, primaries. That's not allowed.
``It was an honest mistake by a hard-working person and, unfortunately, she has to pay the price,'' Kemp said. ``Linda and I go back a long way. But I have a duty to uphold the integrity of the system, and this was one of those lines that were crossed. It can't be tolerated.''
Kemp told The Atlanta Journal Constitution his office found one voter, a young woman in Richmond County, who had problems because of the late status switch. He said the voter needed to register to vote all over again when she visited her polling precinct. It was unclear if she had cast a ballot.
``One is one too many,'' Kemp said.
He said Ann Hicks, a former elections director who had retired, will replace Ford on a temporary basis.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/4/301258/georgia-elections-director-resigns-over-technical-error