He has served 44 years on election board, and isn’t done yet

When Tony Robbins began serving on the Houston County Board of Elections, Jimmy Carter was governor of Georgia.

On Tuesday, the Houston County Commission along with state Reps. Shaw Blackmon and Heath Clark recognized Robbins for his 44 years of service on the board.

But Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker made sure to clear up one thing.

“He is not retiring from the Board of Elections,” Stalnaker said. “We just felt like he needed to be acknowledged for the time that he has served.”

Robbins explained that he is the Republican appointee on the board, serving with Democratic Party appointee Kathy Shelton and three others appointed by the county commission.

“We have partisan appointments, but when it comes to the elections, for our citizens, we don’t know a party,” he said. “We make sure it’s done fairly, correctly and we do our best to get people in and out.”

Stalnaker gave high praise to Robbins and the other members of the board.

“None of the commissioners worry about the Board of Elections, because we know everything is going to be taken care of,” Stalnaker said.

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "He has served 44 years on election board, and isn’t done yet."