COVINGTON, Ga. - After more than 21 years of service as chairman of the Newton County Board of Elections, Hugh Steele has submitted his resignation to Newton County Chairman Marcello Banes effective Oct. 1. 

"My age is making it increasingly more difficult to handle the responsibilities of my job, as it should be done," Steele wrote in his resignation letter. "In addition, with the advent of the new voting system, some training will be needed for the board members to become familiar with the new system. It seems logical that the ones to benefit from this training should be members who would be expected to remain on the board a reasonable time."

According to its website, the Board of Elections has three members who serve four-year terms and are appointed by the Newton County Board of Commissioners as follows: a nonpartisan appointee who serves as chairman, an appointee from the local Democratic Party and an appointee from the local Republican Party. Kelly Robinson serves as the Democratic appointee and Dustin Thompson serves as the Republican appointee. 

"When we first started on the Board of Elections in July of 1998, the goal of all of us was to do all that we could to assure the voters that we would have fair and honest elections," Steele wrote in his resignation letter. "I believe that we have accomplished that, but we certainly could not have done so without the dedicated work of an excellent staff during those years, plus the long hours of many volunteers who work at all the precincts every election day. Newton County is very fortunate to have so many poll workers who are willing to do this."

Steele thanked the BOC for allowing him to serve and wished the best for the future.