Beaufort County board introduces Jean Felix as new elections director, outlines training and site plans

The Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County on Feb. 25 introduced Jean Felix as the department’s new director and heard an extensive operations update that touched on elections schedules, training, facility projects and continuity planning.

Chair (name not stated in the transcript) opened by noting the county’s election scale — “With about 140,000 registered voters, Beaufort County is the ninth largest county in South Carolina by that metric,” he said — and described the county’s unusually senior electorate and high turnout. The chair said the board reviewed more than 30 applications before selecting Felix.

Jean Felix, introduced by the chair as the new director, outlined immediate priorities: finalizing early voting center locations for an upcoming May 12 school board special election (which she said affects 11,437 voters), expanding hands-on poll-worker and clerk training, completing several office capital improvements and drafting an updated continuity-of-operations (COOP) plan. On legislative matters she said the office is tracking multiple bills in Columbia that could affect registration and polling procedures.

Why it matters: The director’s office runs countywide elections operations — staffing more than 800 poll workers in 2024 and managing early-voting logistics that now must be finalized for three elections in 2026. Delays in choosing early-voting locations can affect logistics and voter outreach for smaller contests such as the May 12 special election.

Key details and next steps

- Early-voting locations: Felix told the board two potential early-voting locations were not yet finalized and recommended the board defer formal approval until a special-called meeting; the board scheduled a Zoom special meeting for Tuesday, March 3 at 3:00 p.m., with an official in-person address at 15 John Gault.

- Training: Felix described a new hands-on training program for poll workers and clerks. She said two recent classes trained 40 people in total and that the program includes 12 sessions aimed at expanding the pool of trained clerks for emergency coverage.

- Facilities and backups: Felix reported ongoing office improvements (painting, new carpet, safety glass) and said wiring has been completed for a permanent generator expected in fiscal year 2027; temporary power equipment has been procured to supply the building until then.

- COOP planning: Following takeaways from the SCARE conference, the director said the office is assembling a team to prepare an updated continuity-of-operations plan and will coordinate with the county emergency operations center, sheriff’s department, Beaufort County administration and municipal first responders.

Board actions and process notes

- Minutes: The board approved the Dec. 17 meeting minutes by voice vote and delayed action on the Jan. 14 special-call minutes. The transcript records voice approval for motions to adopt minutes and to delay the Jan. 14 minutes.

- Poll worker comment form: The board discussed and approved a revised poll worker comment form as a formal feedback mechanism for future elections; members requested clearer header labeling for the recommendation columns.

- Executive session and committee dissolution: The board entered executive session under South Carolina Code section 34-70-A(1) to discuss employment and compensation of the director. After returning to public session the chair announced no votes had been taken during executive session and declared the ad hoc director search committee dissolved.

What the record shows and limits

- Voter counts and percentages were read from internal data: the chair cited about 140,000 registered voters and that 43% of registered voters are age 65 or older. The chair also said “In 2024, roughly 105,000 voters cast their ballots, representing about 62 of our county's adult population”; the transcript does not specify the unit or symbol for the “62” figure and thus that figure is reported as given in the record rather than converted or assumed to be a percent.

- No public commenters attended the meeting.

The board set its next regular meeting for March 25 at 2:00 p.m. and planned the special-called meeting for March 3 to finalize early-voting locations.