Volunteer Firefighter Replaces Suspended Elections Supervisor

Thomas R. Tommy Hardee, an insurance agent and volunteer fireman, has been named the interim replacement for suspended Madison County Supervisor of Elections Jada Woods Williams.

The governors office announced Thursday that Hardee, 37 and a Republican, had been appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to serve as the countys election supervisor.

Williams, a Democrat, was suspended from her post in the county of nearly 20,000 along the Georgia state line after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced her arrest Nov. 1 in connection with alleged voter fraud. Her term expires Nov. 19, 2012.

Williams, first elected to the countywide office in 2006, was one of eight, including Madison County School Board member Abra Hill Tina Johnson, charged in connection with alleged voter fraud that allowed Johnson to win a runoff election last year.

Williams, 34, was charged with 17 counts of neglect of duty and corrupt practices for allowing absentee ballots to be illegally distributed.

Johnson, 43, was charged with 10 counts of fraud in connection with casting a vote, and two counts of absentee ballots and voting violations, according to the FDLE.

According to a release from the governors office, Hardee is an insurance agent with Odiorne Insurance and has been a volunteer firefighter with Madison Fire Rescue since 2000.

Hardee is chairman of Friends of the Hospital in Madison County and has served on the county zoning board.