Lexington, SC 04/04/2024 (Paul Kirby) – Bobby Porter, a candidate for South Congaree’s Town Council in last Tuesday’s Municipal Election and former member of that council, says that he has filed an appeal to that election’s results. Porter said he did so after he and his wife stopped by a local restaurant to pick up some food after the polls closed and was approached by several citizens of the town that said the polling machine they were told to use did not include his name on the ballot. He was also told that 11 voters were also turned away from the polls because they were told that not enough of their homes were in the town to permit them to cast a ballot. These voters apparently told Porter that they had a long history of voting in the town’s elections and had South Congaree on their voter registration cards in the spot were the card tells a voter what elections they can vote in and where they should vote when they do.
Porter said before filing the appeal that if you look at the polling machines and their records from Tuesday’s election, it shows that most machines indicated very thin margins between the candidates. One machine however reflected a much larger margin between himself and the other candidates. “I certainly don’t want to be a bad sport,” Porter said after filing the appeal, “however, the probability of such a large number of people who didn’t want me to serve all using that one machine just seems very improbable.”
Municipalities across the county pay the Lexington County Election and Voter Registration Commission to oversee, provide the equipment for, and tabulate the votes for their Municipal Elections. If an appeal like this is filed, that agency schedules a hearing and that is held in front of the commission’s members. Then the commission then decides what remedy if any is warranted to make the election fair to all who ran and the voters. In some case they take action, but solid proof of election improprieties has to be there.
Although very rare, there have been a few instances where a portion of an election had to be held again so that the voters returned to the polls and voted a second time. This has happened in a City of West Columbia in the past decade but because West Columbia has Council District’s, unlike South Congaree that elects candidates through an at large system, only the one District in question in West Columbia was overturned. In that case, just the voters who lived in the contested Council District had to return to the polls at a later date and cast new ballots. In the West Columbia example, the second vote did flip the seat making the initial winner lose and the loser of the first vote won the seat.
Porter said after filing the appeal, “I’m not doing this for myself, I am doing it for the citizens of South Congaree. If their vote wasn’t counted, or if it was counted incorrectly, it may make a difference in the election. We aren’t talking about a margin of 100 votes in a South Congaree’s election. In most of our elections, the difference between one candidate’s count and another’s is 10 or less votes.”
Porter asked that anyone who lives inside the town limits of South Congaree and tried to vote but couldn’t find his name on the ballot or were turned away because not enough of their primary residence was in the town to please give him a call. He can be reached at 1-336-442-3339.
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