BRADENTON, Fla. — Manatee County Supervisor of Elections James Satcher will remain in his role until January despite losing the primary election last week.
In the hours following that loss, Satcher fired four staffers. Three were fired by Satcher's chief of staff just before 5 p.m., the day after the primary election.
“He just says, ‘Your services are no longer required,’ and I was in shock,” Christine Palmer said. “He says, ‘Here are your boxes. Pack them up and leave.’”
Palmer is one of four workers fired hours after the primary election. She had been with the elections office for nearly sixteen years and questioned her termination only to hear the same statement repeated.
“So, then I started getting more upset and I said, ‘I have done nothing against this office. I have done nothing determinantal against it. I have done everything for this office,” Palmer recalled. “I worked hard for this office. Tell me what I have done. Your services are no longer required. They didn’t have a reason. He was just having a fit because he lost and had to do something about it.”
Harriet Darnell and Teresa Margraf are both temporary workers. Darnell has worked as a every election year since 2016 while Margraf has done so since 2010.
“That was it. I was totally surprised, totally shocked,” Darnell said.
“That was it. No reason. I mean, I was shocked,” Margraf said. “The whole day seemed to go smoother. Everybody was a little calmer, maybe, a light at the end of the tunnel kind of thing. But there was no warning, no nothing.”
Supervisor of Elections staff confirmed the terminations were at Satcher’s direction.
Neither Satcher nor his chief of staff, David Ballard, was available for an interview on Wednesday, but staff shared two statements regarding the dismissals of the two permanent employees.
“Mark Darnell's employment was terminated effective August 21, 2024. This decision was made following his failure to fulfill a critical responsibility during the August Primary Election—a day that demands absolute dedication from every team member,” one statement said.
“Despite the clear importance of the task at hand, Mark chose to abandon his post, leaving the team severely understaffed on one of the most pivotal days of the year.”
But Harriet Darnell, Mark’s mother, said he was fired on election night, and she later took him home.
A statement from Palmer said, “Ms. Palmer has had a difficult time appropriately leading a group of full-time staff in Voter Services … along with extended breaks not reflected on time sheets and incomplete tasks, conclude with berating a subordinate which caused the employee to break down in tears.”
“Due to the upcoming Primary Election, Supervisor Satcher held off on terminating Ms. Palmer’s employment until after the election. However, during post-election voter information processing, Ms. Palmer intensely rebuked a subordinate when the employee sought help from the employee’s supervisor, Ms. Palmer. This caused the employee to break down in tears.”
Palmer was shown a copy of the complete statement and denied any allegations were true. She added that she had never been disciplined once in her nearly 16 years with the elections office.
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Satcher to supervisor of elections in April after longtime supervisor Michael Bennett retired. Bennett had recommended his longtime deputy in his resignation letter to DeSantis.
Scott Farrington didn’t get the appointment but did win last week’s primary election. He will sworn into office in January.
On election night, ABC Action News was at the Supervisor of Elections, watching the results alongside Satcher and others. But when it was clear Satcher would lose, he left the office even though all the ballots hadn’t been counted yet.
“I feel very disillusioned with the whole process,” Palmer said. “Satcher should never have been there. I think Governor DeSantis did Manatee County voters a great disservice by allowing the developers to cloud his judgement to appoint Satcher.”
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