FLORENCE -- State Senate District 30 candidates Kent Williams and Tim Norwood were in Columbia on Thursday for a protest hearing with Democratic party officials.

Williams is to face Sen. Maggie Glover in a Democratic primary runoff Tuesday after a recount Monday put him seven votes ahead of Norwood. In the original vote certification, Norwood had finished six votes ahead of Williams.

Both Williams and Norwood filed protests in the June 8 Democratic primary. Williams withdrew his protest Thursday before they were to meet with the S.C. Democratic Party's executive committee.

Also meeting with the committee were officials from Jasper County, where the House District 122 race is being contested. By press time Thursday night, the committee was still hearing Jasper County's case. It was not clear whether the District 30 case would be heard.

Williams had filed the protest Monday, before learning that he had won the runoff spot. Norwood filed his protest Wednesday.

Norwood's protest asks that the election be declared invalid and alleges irregularities in the absentee votes, ineligible voters and improper instruction at the polls. Norwood's protest also alleges that several known felons voted in the election. It is against state law for a felon to vote.

Williams' protest alleges several irregularities at the polls, mishandled absentee ballots and misinformation given to voters by poll workers in all four counties (Dillon, Florence, Marion and Marlboro).

Some of the complaints center around the way voters were instructed at the polls. Both Williams and Norwood allege that voters were asked what party they belong to, and those who responded Republican were told they had to vote in the Republican primary. That excluded them from voting in the Senate District 30 race because all candidates were Democrats.

The executive committee of the Democratic Party could rule the election invalid, and order another election just for the Senate District 30 seat. If the party did order another election, it will not stop the June 22 runoff from occurring, according to officials at the state Election Commission.