Gaston, SC (Paul Kirby) – First time School Board candidate Lynne Fallaw easily won the open seat on Lexington School District Four’s Board of Trustees Tuesday. This is the district that covers the Gaston and Swansea areas of Lexington County.
This was a non-partisan, at large election. She was running against two other candidates that were vying for the seat left open when Doris Simmons was elected to the Town of Swansea’s Town Council. She will need to run again in November of this year when the term would have expired for Simmons.
Fallaw was opposed by Sadie Kirkland Wannamaker, a retired state employee and former board member. She also faced Teresa Brown, a former teacher and school administrator. In the end, Fallaw, a retired law enforcement officer, small business owner, and adjunct professor at Midlands Technical College, easily defeated the other two candidates.
In the final tally, 359 votes were cast. This was a special election and they are notorious for their low voter turnout. Fallaw had said she planned to work hard right up to election day to make sure each voter knew casting their ballots counted. When all votes were tallied, Fallaw was able to draw 173 votes. Sadie Kirkland Wannamaker received 94 votes, and Teresa Brown got 92. Brown did very little campaigning and still drew extremely close to Wanamaker’s total vote count.
Fallaw said after the polls had closed and the outcome was apparent that she appreciated the confidence the people of the district showed in her. “I’m ready to join a team I already know well, and think is doing a good job. I think we can work to together to make Lexington School District Four and even better place for our students than it already is.” Fallaw and her husband, a retired police chief and farmer, have a daughter who’s a junior at Swansea High School.