Janine Eveler, the director of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, announced Friday that she is retiring after 12 years in the position.
The announcement was issued by Cobb government, which said a search will be launched immediately to hire her successor. Eveler will leave her post after Cobb municipal elections in March.
Eveler was with the Cobb Elections for 18 years after a career in telecommunications.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my 18 years with Cobb County government,” Eveler said in a statement to the elections board that was included in a release issued by county. “I am very proud of the accomplishments that I and the Elections department have achieved and appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of the best county in Georgia.”
She was named the 2021 recipient of Ann Hicks Award, honoring excellence in elections administration, by the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Elections Officials.
But the 2022 elections in Cobb were marked by controversies and glitches involving the elections office that led to court consent decrees extending the deadline for returning absentee ballots in the general election and the U.S. Senate runoff.
They included the failure to mail more than 1,000 absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 general election due to what Eveler said was a “human error” by an elections worker.
“I am sorry that this office let these voters down,” Eveler said at the time. “Many of the absentee staff have been averaging 80 or more hours per week, and they are exhausted. Still, that is no excuse for such a critical error.”
She told the elections board and Cobb commissioners on several occasions that high turnover among elections workers and volunteers were significant challenges during an election year that included new boundaries due to reapportionment.
In the Post 4 Cobb Board of Education general election race in East Cobb, 1,112 voters registered in the Sandy Plains 1 precinct were incorrectly given ballots to vote in the Cobb Board of Education Post 4 race.
They live in Post 5, also in East Cobb, following redistricting earlier in 2022.
The error was corrected, but 111 votes that had already been cast could not be changed. Republican incumbent David Chastain defeated Democrat Catherine Pozniak by 3,686 votes to win re-election.
A city council race in Kennesaw in November was reversed after data from a memory card was not uploaded promptly after the general election.
The appointed elections board also added one Sunday of early voting for the general election, a change that Eveler opposed in favor of a longer Saturday.
She also attributed some of the errors to a new state law limiting the window for absentee ballots and dropbox locations for them.
“The Board of Elections appreciates Janine’s service and commitment to Cobb County and the opportunity we’ve had to work with her to address concerns and challenges related to the changing elections landscape in this state,” elections board chairwoman Tori Silas in the Cobb release.
Related:
- East Cobb resident files ethics complaint against Richardson
- Cobb Republican commissioners vote, contest meeting minutes
- Activist groups organize over Cobb electoral map dispute
- Ga. Attorney General: Cobb electoral maps are ‘not legally binding’
- Cobb Republican commissioners leave meeting over abstentions
- East Cobb resident files lawsuit over Cobb commission maps
- Cobb passes home rule resolution over redistricting in party-line vote
- East Cobb News Politics & Elections page
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