HONOLULU -- The man in charge of Hawaii's state elections suddenly resigned Tuesday.

The chairman of the state elections commission said Kevin Cronin submitted a letter of resignation and will leave office at the end of December.

Cronin was hired as Chief Elections Officer less than two years ago. He got off to a rough start, by not registering as a Hawaii voter and was criticized for decisions about elections contractors and last-minute candidate challenges.

He leaves the office with the selection of next year's voting machine contractors still in limbo after a legal challenge. The elections commission chairman said Cronin did not say why he's resigning.