TheItem.com Printer Friendly Version

This is a printer friendly version of an article from The Item.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.

Close

Article published: Feb 15, 2006
Harvin wins unopposed election
Widow to serve last year of late husband's term in S.C. House

MANNING — Cathy Harvin was elected Tuesday to serve the remaining year of her late husband's 15th term in the South Carolina House of Representatives.

Alex Harvin, 55, died Oct. 11 while serving in his 29th year in House District 64.

Voters in Clarendon and Williamsburg counties turned out in low numbers to vote in Tuesday's General Election, where Harvin's was the only name on the ballot.

Harvin won the Democratic primary on Jan. 3 and Republicans fielded no candidates for the primary or Tuesday's election.

Harvin, who wasn't present during ballot tabulation, could not be reached Tuesday night for comment.

With 26 of Clarendon County's 27 precincts voting in the election, less than 7.5 percent of the county's 19,922 registered voters showed up at the polls with Harvin earning 1,470 votes. In Williamsburg County, Harvin received all 41 votes that were cast. About 4.3 percent of registered Williamsburg voters turned out for the election.

Only one out of every three voters who cast ballots in January during the Democratic primary returned to the polls Tuesday.

Six weeks ago, Harvin won the Democratic nomination, garnering more than 83 percent of the vote as she defeated 59-year-old challenger Mitch Ellerby, 4,054 to 841, in Clarendon and Williamsburg counties.

According to Bob Gibbons, president of the Clarendon County Republican Party, his party did not field a candidate for the primary or the general election out of respect for the late Alex Harvin.

Cathy Harvin, who has been attending House sessions since the Jan. 3 primary, said she will be sitting at her late husband's desk.

"The House has been so gracious as to allow me to use Alex's desk," she said. "Alex's desk is one of the first desks as you walk into the House chambers."

Bobbie Reaves, chairman of the Clarendon County Election Commission, said there were no problems reported with the electronic touch-screen voting machines.

"The machines worked very well," Reaves said. "There were no problems."

Contact Staff Writer Sharron Haley at shaley@theitem.com or 803-435-8511.