Howard Knapp. Howie Knapp. South Carolina State Election Commission. SCVotes. Alan Wilson. Attorney General. SLED. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
CRIME & COURTS

SLED Confirms Investigation Into Palmetto State Elections Director

Chief election official accused of misconduct…

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Agents of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) are investigating “allegations of misconduct” involving the leader of the S.C. State Election Commission (SCVotes.gov), according to a department spokesperson.

While details surrounding the investigation remain unclear, state agents began delving into Howard “Howie” Knapp on March 29, 2024. Per SLED spokeswoman Renée Wunderlich, the “active and ongoing” probe was requested by the Office of S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson.

Despite SLED’s bulletin, the attorney general’s request was neither confirmed nor negated by its longtime spokesperson. FITSNews was subsequently denied comment when asked about findings purportedly forwarded to Wilson by the S.C. Office of Inspector General (SCOIG).

Charged with detecting misconduct in the state’s executive branch, the SCOIG is required to keep investigations “confidential” until a final report is published — unless inspector general Brian Lamkin opts to issue confidential referrals in lieu of any public filings.

While it remains unclear as to whether Lamkin applied his discretionary powers prescribed under S.C. Code of Laws § 1-6-50 (C), state employees allege the SCOIG was communicating with Knapp before supposedly transferring its “advice or recommendations” to Wilson’s office.

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Howard Knapp. Howie Knapp. South Carolina State Election Commission. SCVotes. Alan Wilson. Attorney General. SLED. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Howard Knapp and late U.S. Senator John McCain in 2005. (Provided)

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Corroborating the aforementioned are minutes from a regularly scheduled SCSEC meeting dated March 20, 2024. According to the written record — submitted nine days before SLED’s investigation was launched — commissioners entered into executive session to discuss a “personnel matter.”

Per SCVotes, no notes were taken during this meeting.

“Upon returning to open session, (a chairman) asked for a motion to develop and adopt new policies related to staff use of agency-owned vehicles, travel expenses and procurement practices for small purchases (sic),” submitted the agency’s executive assistant. 

Despite the inference of communication between agencies, the SCOIG denied our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for “any and all letters, including attachments,” sent to Knapp’s office from the date of his confirmation through the date of SLED’s investigation.

An established government employee, Knapp was appointed as executive director of SCVotes in January 2022 and confirmed by the S.C. Senate in March 2023. Before becoming the state’s chief election official, he served throughout the agency for about four years.

As our media outlet was investigating these matters, unrelated criminal charges predating Knapp’s tenure with SCVotes resurfaced by virtue of a Facebook post from the attorney general’s office.

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According to the publicly accessible bulletin, Knapp was one of ten individuals arrested on charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors during a multi-state crackdown executed by multiple Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces five years ago.

Designated “Operation Southern Impact II,” deputies of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) are said to have arrested and charged Knapp with three counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. 

Despite each felony offense carrying up to 10 years imprisonment, Knapp’s charges appear to have vanished from the state’s public index. Adding to the intrigue, Knapp’s name was erased from an ensuing press release uploaded to the attorney general’s website on March 16, 2018.

According to Knapp’s LinkedIn page, he was working within the executive budget office of the S.C. Department of Administration (Admin) at the time of his ambiguous arrest. Come July 2019, he transferred to the budget department of the S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS).

All the while serving as a shareholder for Palmetto Academic and Cultural Teachers (PACT), Knapp appears to have become SCVotes’s interim director within days of his felonious charges disappearing — per now-updated news reports from the 2018 ICAC crackdown.

FITSNews responsively FOIA’d for Knapp’s arrest records from RCSD, as well as for his personnel files from Admin. We furthermore FOIA’d for personnel files from the S.C. Legislative Audit Council (SCLAC) as well as the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff (SCORS).

As of this publishing, our requests remain pending.

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Howard Knapp at The Citadel. (Provided)

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“I write to remind you of certain state law obligations regarding election integrity,” wrote Wilson to Knapp on October 24, 2024, seven months after requesting SLED intervention. “By working together, I am confident we can all do our part to ensure election integrity in 2024.”

The present-day poster child of South Carolina’s election system, Knapp oversees the conduct of every primary, general and special election. He’s additionally tasked with supporting the state’s voting system, as well as serving as agency liaison with the S.C. General Assembly.

Originally from Brentwood, Tennessee, Knapp attended Billings Central Catholic High School (BSC) before earning his bachelor’s from The Citadel in 2008. After leaving Charleston, S.C., he obtained a juris doctorate from the Ave Maria School of Law (AML) in 2012.

While Knapp was not immediately available for comment, his attorney, Joe McCulloch of Columbia, S.C., issued the following statement via cellphone:

With regard to your inquiry, I briefly represented Mr. Knapp at a time when he was accused — for a brief period — of issues that were erroneously reported to South Carolina authorities by a national entity.

After a very brief investigation, law enforcement found no basis for the accusations. A dismissal and expungement followed. I’m attaching confirmation of the dismissal and expungement.

In light of §17-1-60 (D), I strongly suggest refraining from any reportage of this matter pursuant to that statute — with respect to people’s privacy in the context of wrongful allegations. 

News of SLED’s investigation was first reported by Palmetto State Watch.

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CONFIRMATION OF EXPUNGEMENT…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Andrew Fancher. Hurricane Helene. Buncombe County. North Carolina. FEMA. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Roy Cooper.
Andrew Fancher in Mitchell County, N.C.
(Dynal Nolan/FITSNews)

Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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3 comments

AC Top fan January 16, 2025 at 6:56 am

Wouldn’t trust anything Brian Lamkin has to say. He’s a Robert Meuller sycophant who couldn’t catch a cold. Why our so called leaders keep hiring former Feds to run our bureaucratic institutions is unfathomable. There are plenty of talented career state and local law enforcement executives who could run these agencies much better and are actually loyal and accountable to our state. Fits should do a deep dive into the backgrounds of who actually runs our agencies

Reply
JustSomeGuy Top fan January 16, 2025 at 9:35 am

Are you insinuating that the expungement was improper? If he was improperly accused, and the charges were immediately dropped, it’s pretty sleazy for FITS to drag it back up. You really ought to have some kind of evidence before you throw that out there.

Reply
Loulou January 20, 2025 at 10:09 am

This hints of the present day political warfare that has gone on in this nation. If the allegations were erroneously brought and charges were dropped and his record expunged, why broadcast this? It sounds as though he may have disagreed with some one higher up who has an ax to grind. The lawyer who represented this young man should bring charges against this news outlet and the one who is bringing forward past allegations which were expunged. It is a blatant character discrimination suit.

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