The director of the Arkansas secretary of state's Elections Division, Rob Hammons of Conway, has resigned, effective April 22.
Hammons said Wednesday that he turned in his resignation last week to the secretary of state's office, and "it was my decision."
His resignation letter to Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin doesn't cite a reason.
"I was kind of burned out from elections," Hammons said. "I have been doing it for 18 years and I'm tired of it, to be honest."
He has served as the director of the Elections Division since Feb. 1, 2013, after briefly serving as interim director, and worked in the secretary of state's office since July of 2003, according to his personnel file. He previously worked for the state Board of Election Commissioners from August 1999 to July of 2003.
Hammons said he has two job offers in central Arkansas and he hopes to find a job closer to his home. That way he wouldn't have to travel to Little Rock each day and he would be able to spend more time with his family, he said.
His salary as Elections Division director is $81,362.51 a year, said Chris Powell, spokesman for the secretary of state's office. The director supervises 13 employees in the Elections Division.
Leslie Bellamy, who has been assistant director of the Elections Division, has been named interim director, Powell said.
Bellamy's salary is $60,000 a year, Powell said. Bellamy was hired as an election coordinator in March of 2013 and appointed assistant director of the elections division in August 2015.
The Elections Division is responsible for maintaining the state's election records, assisting county officials with conducting federal, state and district elections, helps to ensure compliance with federal election laws such as the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, and oversees training on the state's electronic voting systems, according to the secretary of state's website.
The division serves as a clearinghouse for campaign-finance reports that are filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, and the library of the Elections Division maintains the journals and acts of the Legislature along with all incorporations and annexations of cities and towns.
Metro on 03/31/2016