Howard Knapp

Introduction

Howard Knapp is an American election administrator who served as executive director of the South Carolina State Election Commission — the state’s chief election official — from 2022 until the commission’s governing board voted to remove him, effective immediately, on 17 September 2025. The 3–2 dismissal, citing “a desire for new leadership,” came amid a year-old misconduct investigation, an over-budget voting-machine contract, and federal pressure over the state’s voter rolls. Five weeks later, Knapp was arrested and charged with embezzlement, misconduct in office and related offences. The charges are allegations he has never admitted and that remain untested in court; the firing itself is an adjudicated employment action by the commission.

Background Information

Knapp was named South Carolina’s chief election official in January 2022 and confirmed by the state Senate in March 2023, leading an agency that runs elections for roughly 3.3 million registered voters. Two pressures shaped his tenure. The first was procurement: in 2024 the commission bought about 3,200 new ballot scanners under a contract approved at $28 million — a purchase that would end up costing around $4 million more and draw multiple investigations. The second was federal data demands: the Justice Department pressed for the state’s voter rolls, which include driver’s license and Social Security numbers. Running alongside both was a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigation into alleged misconduct, opened in March 2024 at the state Attorney General’s request — and Knapp’s close ties to his deputy, Margaret Paige Salonich, whom chairman Dennis Shedd would later call his “very close friend and fellow employee.”

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The criminal claims in this section are allegations from arrest charges and an ongoing investigation. They were never admitted by Knapp and have not been adjudicated in court; he is presumed innocent unless and until convicted. His firing itself is an adjudicated employment action by the commission and is stated as fact.

At its September 2025 monthly meeting, the commission voted 3–2 to remove Executive Director Howard Knapp effective immediately. Chairman Dennis Shedd cited “a desire for new leadership” and said the decision was “unrelated to the conduct of any election in South Carolina.” Chief of Staff Jenny Wooten was appointed interim director. Knapp has not responded to requests for comment since the firing.

The firing immediately drew a month of speculation about whether Knapp had been let go over the state’s ongoing negotiations with the Justice Department — talks about a request for data on all South Carolina voters, following a lawsuit that briefly blocked the handover before the state Supreme Court reversed. Shedd said the firing had nothing to do with the negotiations, noting that Knapp’s position matched his own: the data could be released under a strict agreement keeping it secure.

Two developments turned a leadership dispute into a full scandal. Before commissioners met behind closed doors to discuss Knapp’s fate, a recording device was found hidden in the room; Salonich was later said to have been caught on security video planting it in the commission’s training room on the day of the firing, and she was dismissed on 22 September. At the October meeting, Shedd disclosed the machine-contract overrun — approved at $28 million, authorized at about $32 million, with at least three state agencies investigating — while insisting that any misconduct had not affected the integrity of any election.

Public Reaction and Consequences

At the commission’s 15 October meeting, Shedd said Knapp was removed for “inappropriate conduct” — misusing agency money for personal reasons and “conspiring” with other management-level staff to “falsify documentation,” then conspiring with those employees to lie that they had falsified it. Shedd also faulted a leadership style that created a “toxic and perhaps a hostile work environment,” telling reporters: “We’re finding out new stuff that old management did.” Salonich’s termination letter said she had failed to maintain a “satisfactory or harmonious working relationship” with colleagues; she sued the commission shortly afterward, saying it had released embarrassing details about her. A third employee, former agency spokesman John Michael Catalano, resigned on 10 October.

The criminal reckoning came on Friday, 24 October 2025, when Knapp and Salonich were both arrested. Knapp, 40, faces 11 charges including using his official position or office for financial gain, embezzlement of public funds valued at less than $10,000, misconduct in office and accessory after the fact to a felony. Warrant allegations include that he used state vehicles and his agency purchasing card for personal fuel and embezzled $5,482.74 of public money for two fleet cars used by him and his wife off duty. He received a $75,000 personal recognizance bond at the Richland County jail and may not leave the state. “This is all about politics,” said his attorney, Joe McCulloch. “We look forward to a very public trial. See you there.” Salonich, 41, was charged with wiretapping and drew a $25,000 recognizance bond. Interim director Wooten called the allegations “deeply troubling,” saying the commission had acted “swiftly, decisively, and transparently” to restore public trust.

Current Status

Knapp’s criminal case is pending, with his and Salonich’s first court appearance scheduled for 19 December 2025, and the state Inspector General’s Office is separately examining the agency’s conduct under Knapp. At the agency, Wooten steered it through the voter-rolls litigation and was voted permanent director unanimously in December 2025 — before withdrawing from the role the following March. Shedd had resigned as chairman in January 2026, and the commission continued searching for permanent leadership ahead of that year’s party primaries, still needing more than $21 million from legislators to finish paying for the machines. The case against Knapp is ongoing.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Knapp’s removal and arrest ended his run as South Carolina’s chief election official barely three years after Senate confirmation, and left him in rare territory: a state elections director fired by his own board and then criminally charged — though the charges remain unproven allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until convicted. For an agency charged with running credible elections, the sequence — a 3–2 firing, a hidden recorder, a deputy’s arrest, an overruns investigation, and a wave of leadership turnover capped by the chairman’s resignation — was a reputational blow that officials worked publicly to contain, insisting that no misconduct affected the integrity of any election. Knapp’s attorney has promised a very public defense on grounds of politics; until a court rules, the charges and that defense remain untested claims, and a career built around administering elections ends under indictment.