Brad Raffensperger hired Jordan Fuchs to help him campaign for the Georgia State House in 2014 and later for his campaign for Georgia secretary of state. After his campaign win, Raffensperger appointed Fuchs deputy secretary of state in December 2018, and she now manages the office’s day-to-day operations.
Fuchs served as senior political consultant to federal, state, local and judicial candidates as vice president of operations for Landmark Communications, one of Georgia’s oldest Republican political consultancies. She managed all aspects of competitive primary and general elections across the state, from developing campaign plans, strategy, TV ad production, direct mail creation and digital advertising.
As deputy secretary of state, Fuchs oversaw an overhaul of Georgia’s election system, replacing outdated direct-recording voting machines with a $133 million system that checks in voters electronically and uses ballot-marking devices with a touch screen to create printed paper ballots, which can then be audited.
“It was the largest rollout of a new voting system in American history,” Fuchs’ team said. “The system is secure, verifiable and accurate and was not only set up during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic but subjected to unprecedented public and national scrutiny during the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The election was audited, subjected to full hand recount, which proved the election results were accurate.”
Fuchs believes the No. 1 quality in a good leader is resiliency. It’s the quality that allows a leader to persevere with any issue and trust your own judgment, she said.
“One of the most impactful books you’ll ever read is ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell, who argues that your gut instinct is usually correct,” Fuchs said. “When faced with complex problems, it’s important to look at multiple possible outcomes, but it’s more important to move to a final decision quickly — and you’ll come to find that a timely, executed decision is usually the correct one for that moment.”
When COVID-19 hit, Fuchs empowered her five division directors to move to a work-from-home operation and implemented a plan to measure productivity within this model. “The productivity tools showed that employees in this blended model were actually more productive than in the previous office-only environment,” Fuchs’ team said. “Through implementing the plan, she has enhanced retention in an increasingly competitive labor market. During her tenure the agency has seen record professional licensing and record corporate filings. Even now, she is leading three different technology capital build-outs for voter registration, professional licensing and corporations.”
One of the key projects Fuchs spearheaded was the Secure the Vote voter education program that worked with bipartisan groups to educate voters on Georgia’s new voting equipment. At the conclusion of the program, 80% of Georgia voters trusted how they voted, whether it was in person or by absentee, the office said.
