Manatee County Supervisor of Elections James Satcher fired several employees in the days after losing a closely watched race to determine whether he could hold the office for four more years.
The terminations came after Satcher, a former Manatee County commissioner appointed to the position by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April, lost his contest to Scott Farrington, an election official who spent more than a decade working in the office .
Reached for comment Monday afternoon, David Ballard, the elections office’s chief of staff, confirmed four employee terminations.
In an interview with the Bradenton Herald, Satcher suggested that the employees did not meet his performance expectations. Each of the fired employees had worked in the office for at least four years.
“We’re looking for (people with) the capability to perform their job and the ability to work collaboratively in the office,” Satcher told the Bradenton Herald. “We had the election coming up and that gave us the opportunity to analyze people’s fit in the office.”