The embattled chief's exit was widely anticipated. Vu and his Deputy, Gwendolyn Dillingham, received much of the blame for last year's botched May primary, when poll workers were unprepared to handle electronic voting and vote-holding memory cards were misplaced or lost. Dillingham will leave at the end of this month, while Vu will stay on as a consultant during the transition to new leadership. Bob Bennett, chairman of the elections board, announced the deal after hours of negotiations.
Bob Bennett: Director Michael Vu has submitted his resignation of his position and the board has accepted his resignation effective March 1, 2007. Director Vu will continue to consult with the board through June of this year into to ease the transition to a new director.
In a written statement, Vu says he's fulfilled his mission to bring electronic voting to Cuyahoga County. He says he's at peace about his resignation despite disappointments. He pointed to the May primary and the criminal conviction of two elections workers for mishandling the 2004 Presidential recount.
Michael Vu: At the end of the day, I believe I've done a good job at the agency in the timeframe that I've been here. Have I been perfect? No. I think the elections show for that. But we haven't all been perfect in the last three years.
Vu came to the elections board in 2003 after a nationwide search. Bennett says the resignation is part of a compromise made last summer when the board to tried to vote Vu out.
Bob Bennett: The board was divided on whether the director and deputy director were going to leave immediately, and I think the compromise was whether or not they were going to get through the November elections. And I think they did an outstanding job there. We're not into the February primary At the same time we'll have the benefit of their experience.
Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones says Vu's departure comes at the right time. Jones has been critical of the amount of money the county has had to spend, both on touch-screen voting machines and on continued training of poll workers.
Peter Lawson Jones: Things just did not go well in terms of the conduct of elections. And in addition morale at the board of elections, as a consequence of a number of factors, is down. So we need a change. And it's good that we have it sooner rather than later.
The elections board formed an eight-member search committee to pick Vu's replacement. Bay Village Mayor Deborah Sutherland and Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chair Jimmy Dimora are among the members. Tasha Flournoy 90.3.