Ann McGeehan, the director of the elections division at the Texas Secretary of State and a master of the arcana of state election law, is leaving the department after more than 22 years to take a position at the Texas County and District Retirement Systems. The move comes at a time when the state is in the throes of a controversy over the contentious voter ID bill that was passed out of the Texas Legislature earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Justice has put the state’s request for preclearance of the measure on hold, alleging Texas election officials need to provide more information to the federal agency to prove that the law, which would require that most voters furnish an photo ID in order to cast a ballot, does not infringe on the rights of minority voters.

Rich Parsons, the Secretary of State’s communications director, said McGeehan’s departure has nothing to do with the current demands of the DOJ and the allegations by Democrats that the law will disenfranchise some voters.

“She’s been here for 22 years, and she just decided it was time to see what else what’s going on out there,” he said, adding that the department has a very “dedicated and professional legal staff” that will continue working on the voter ID issue.

She's leaving right after the constitutional amendment elections and right before the state has to pull together plans for primary elections under maps (for House, Senate and Congress) that are even now being drawn by a panel of federal judges in San Antonio. Candidates will be filing for election under those maps starting in just over two weeks, on November 28.

Elizabeth Winn, whom Parsons said has been the department’s legal director since 1995, will be the interim director of the elections division.

Erica Stick is the new veep for government relations in Texas at Amerigroup, a Medicaid managed care outfit. she's replacing Merideth Delk, who got a promotion to senior vice president for government affairs. Stick was previous at the state's Health and Human Services Commission.

WGU Texas, a new nonprofit, online university established by the state of Texas, appointed Mark Milliron as its first Chancellor. Milliron previously served as Deputy Director for Postsecondary Improvement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed 13 members to the Texas Juvenile Justice Board, and named Scott Fisher of Bedford chair of the board. Fisher is senior pastor of Metroplex Chapel of Euless.

The others include John Brieden III of Brenham is county judge of Washington County; Joseph Brown of Sherman is criminal district attorney of Grayson County; Carol Bush of Waxahachie is the Ellis County judge, and a former Ellis County court at law judge; Jane Anderson King of Canyon is chief juvenile probation officer for the Randall County Juvenile Probation Department; Rob Kyker of Richardson is owner of R&D Sales and Leasing; Michael Meade of Simonton is director and chief juvenile probation officer of the Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation Department; Mary Lou Mendoza of San Antonio is an elementary school principal in the Northside Independent School District; Rene Olvera of San Antonio is head psychiatrist liaison for the UT Health Science Center Psychiatric Department and Bexar County Juvenile Probation Correctional Services, and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Laura Parker of San Antonio is judge of the 386th Juvenile District Court in Bexar County; Jimmy Smith is a Midland County commissioner; Calvin Stephens of Dallas is president of SSP Consulting; and Melissa Weiss of Bellville is chief juvenile probation officer for the Austin County Juvenile Probation Department.