COLUMBIA – S.C. Election Commission officials explained their reasons for firing former executive director Howard Knapp, accusing the former agency head of a litany of misconduct that included fostering a hostile work environment and falsifying financial documents behind the agency’s back.

The misconduct was so egregious, election board head Dennis Shedd said, that a secretly brokered agreement to purchase voting machines could potentially result in hundreds of them being repossessed by the bank that financed the $32 million deal.

The Oct. 15 meeting — the board’s first since Knapp’s removal Sept. 17 — was the first time the board discussed Knapp’s exit publicly.

Occasionally addressing reporters directly, Shedd said Knapp was removed for a laundry list of misconduct allegations that

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