After several split votes at the county’s reorganization meeting last week, Republican and Democrat members of the board submitted briefs to LaRose’s office on Friday.
Smith was sworn in Monday morning as director, and Huber was sworn in as deputy director. Both start on the job immediately.
Smith served as Greene County’s elections director from 2005 to 2011, when he took a position in the office of the supervisor of elections in Sarasota, Florida. Smith served in that position from 2011 to 2022, when he and his wife moved back to Ohio to be closer to family, he said.
“I had always looked at Greene County because I loved working for Greene County,” Smith said. “To come back and be able to to get back to the director’s position ... it’s a dream.”
Smith’s first priority as director is to get the county Board of Elections out of administrative oversight, he said. The Secretary of State placed department on oversight in 2023, following several years of election problems.
“It’s going to take a lot of work between myself and the deputy director, Jordan ... we’re going to have to really look at everything, and maybe change a few of the things that we’re used to, just to make sure that things just run smoother,” he said.
Additionally, Smith’s focus is on increasing the number of poll workers who participate in each election.
“What (poll workers) bring to the community is amazing. Every poll worker I’ve ever seen has always given their all for their boards of elections,” Smith said.
In Ohio, each county’s elections office has a four-member voting board (two Democrats and two Republicans), and that board hires a director and a deputy director (one from each party) to run the day-to-day operations of the office.
The Secretary of State only intervenes in personnel matters during a reorganization of Boards of Elections. If five votes go to a 2-2 tie in hiring a director, the Ohio Secretary of State will break the tie.
LaRose is a Republican.
Huber has been the acting director of the Board of Elections for approximately the last three months, and has served as the deputy director of the Greene County Board of Elections for just over a year.
“I’m looking forward to working with both the Republicans on the board and the Democrats on the board. My main focus is the voters of Greene County ... making sure that they have transparent, safe, secure and accurate elections. That’s first and foremost in any director’s job,” Smith said.
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