Vice-Chair of Bibb County Board of Elections Voted Out

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The former vice-chair of the Bibb County Board of Elections, Steve Allen, is speaking out Tuesday after his party ousted him from that position.

The Bibb County Democratic Party’s executive board voted to remove Allen Monday night after he voted in favor of a September 17th election date last week.

The day he voted there were only four members of the board of elections present. Acting as the chair, Allen initially abstained, but was then told he could vote so the board could have a quorum. Allen, a Democrat, voted for the September 17th date. The vote was 3-1 in favor of that date.

Fellow Democrat Ronnie Miley voted for November 5th.

Before the vote Allen explained that having September elections will save the county money on sending out absentee ballots, and if a run-off happens it will be in October rather than in December around holidays.

Members of the executive board like State Senator David Lucas were not happy about Allen’s decision.

“The Democratic executive committee decided that he went against their wishes and he knew what their wishes were so therefore, they removed him,” said Lucas.

Allen defended his position by saying at this point a date needed to be set for elections and also, no one expressed concern to him about a specific date.

“I think the real problem here is that the Democrats are opposed to having nonpartisan elections and they wanted to lash out at something, and I was the only one even though lashing out at me has no effect,” said Allen.

He said he knew ahead of time the board was likely going to vote him off of the Board of Elections.

“The tone was disappointing because I had the feeling it was almost a lynch mob. There was nothing I could do to change it. I gave my arguments, I tried to be as rational as possible, but their minds were made up and they were going to vote me out regardless of what I did,” said Allen.

Allen served on the board for four years. Immediately following his removal from the board, Allen also resigned as member of the executive board of the Bibb County Democratic party.

He says while serving on the elections board has been a passion of his, he’s looking forward to focusing on family, work, and openly supporting the candidates of his choice.

“I will miss being on the baord of elections, but I won’t miss all the drama that goes on in the political process,” said Allen.