COLUMBIA — Attorneys were in court Wednesday as South Carolina’s elections agency continues to face challenges from two directions — a lawsuit over whether it should turn over voter information to the federal government and consecutive firings of its top directors.
Lawyers for a Calhoun County voter, the South Carolina Election Commission and Gov. Henry McMaster appeared before Judge Daniel Coble in the downtown Columbia courthouse to argue whether the governor should be allowed to take part in the lawsuit involving the personal data of the state’s 3.3 million registered voters.
The U.S. Department of Justice last month asked for the information — including names, birthdays, addresses, drivers’ license numbers and final digits of Social Security numbers — as part of a push by the Trump administration to get every state’s voter rolls.
South Carolina voter Anne Crook filed the lawsuit in response, citing privacy concerns.
The court appearance comes a day after the agency’s deputy director, Paige Salonich, was fired for placing a recording device in a room the state Election Commission’s governing board uses for meetings.
It was the second termination of a top election official in less than a week.
The commission fired Salonich after she was allegedly caught on tape placing the “unauthorized device,” according to a copy of a termination letter provided to the SC Daily Gazette through a public records request.
The letter, dated Monday, said Salonich’s action “raises serious concerns regarding trust, confidentiality and workplace integrity.”
She’s accused of leaving the recorder in the room Sept. 17. That’s the same day the commission voted 3-2 following a closed-door meeting to fire Howard Knapp, executive director since 2023, “out of a desire for new leadership.”
No termination documents were available in Knapp’s dismissal, said election commission spokesman John Michael Catalano.
Salonich was initially put on unpaid leave the next day (Thursday).
The State Law Enforcement Division has since opened an investigation into “allegations of wiretapping,” The State newspaper previously reported. SLED did not respond to messages from the SC Daily Gazette.
While state law allows a person to record a conversation or public proceedings without notifying the other people involved, that person must be part of the conversation or in the room for the recording to be legal.
Salonich, whose salary was almost $142,000, is also accused of raising her voice to agency leadership, using profanity and disrupting the office the day of Knapp’s firing.
According to witnesses, the letter said, that included “declaring that you were being ‘held hostage at your own (explicit language) job’ and ‘that you would never be a hostage in this (explicit language) place again.'”
The letter said her outburst “left other employees visibly shaken, created an unprofessional environment and undermined the commission’s ability to conduct business in an orderly and respectful manner.”
Salonich, who has worked at the state Election Commission since November 2021, tried to resign Monday but was told via email she was being terminated instead.
A lawyer representing Salonich did not respond to messages from the Gazette. Knapp also did not respond to a message.
Knapp, whose salary was $150,000, remains the subject of another ongoing investigation by SLED, agency spokeswoman Renee Wunderlich previously confirmed. In March 2024, SLED launched the investigation into unspecified allegations of misconduct at the request of the state attorney general’s office.
The commission has previously said the personnel issues are not related to “the conduct of any election in South Carolina.”
“The agency remains fully focused on administering upcoming elections and ensuring that South Carolina voters can continue to have confidence in the process,” Catalano said in a statement Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Judge Coble is scheduled to hear more arguments Friday in the ongoing voter rolls case, as Crook’s lawyers seek to temporarily block the voter information release.
The state Supreme Court overturned on procedural issues a previous attempt to stop the information from being shared. Now, Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, who is Crook’s attorney, is trying again.
The elections agency has yet to provide the requested data to the Department of Justice as it continues to negotiate a memorandum of understanding. The federal agency informed the election commission this week it expects to provide a draft agreement “soon,” Catalano said.
“Once we receive it, we will review it to ensure consistency with South Carolina law and to address the technical details of the proposed data transfer,” Catalano said.
Coble also has yet to rule on whether the governor will be allowed to join the case against the agency.
Arguing against the governor’s admittance, Hutto said the governor is trying to “bigfoot” the state’s elections board.
“The governor shouldn’t come in and try and somehow force the Election Commission to do something that state law prohibits,” the Orangeburg Democrat told the judge.
All five members of the agency’s governing board are appointed by the governor to four-year terms. However, state law doesn’t allow the governor to remove them mid-term without cause. Hutto argued that’s meant to ensure the commission’s independence.
Grayson Lambert, the governor’s lawyer, said McMaster is not trying to inject himself into the commission’s ongoing negotiations with the federal government.
“This is not about politicizing anything. This is not about bigfooting the Election Commission,” Lambert said. “This is about defending state law and helping ensure that state law is properly interpreted.”
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
