FLORENCE -- State Senate District 30 candidate Tim Norwood said Thursday that he’s asking the state Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by fellow candidate Kent Williams.

Williams filed a petition with the court asking that the S.C. Democratic Party’s decision to void the June 8 primary for District 30 be tossed out. Williams also asked the court to order an immediate runoff election between him and incumbent Sen. Maggie Glover.

In the primary, Norwood won a runoff spot against Glover by six votes over Williams. But a mandatory recount conducted on June 14 put Williams in second place by just seven votes.

Norwood filed a protest of the election with the state Democratic Party’s Executive Committee. During the hearing, Norwood presented what he called evidence of widespread voting irregularities, including the manipulation of absentee ballots and absentee voters voting more than once in the election.

After the committee tossed out the election results and asked Gov. Mark Sanford to order a new election, Williams and Glover both filed lawsuits with the Supreme Court. They claim in their lawsuits that Norwood missed the deadline to file a protest, and therefore the committee should not have heard the protest.

State election laws state that candidates filing a protest of an election must file it by noon on the Monday following the final canvassing, or count, of votes. Norwood argues that because the mandatory recount was not completed until after noon on the Monday following the election, he had until June 21 to file. He filed his protest June 16.

At a press conference to discuss his response to the Supreme Court petitions, Norwood said his argument hinges on the word “forthwith.”

“Contrary to the statute, the recount was not conducted forthwith,” Norwood said. “Rather, the recount was delayed until Monday morning, June 14.”

Norwood said the original count on the night of June 8, the count tallied June 10, and the recount June 14 all came up with different totals. Norwood called Williams’ and Glover’s petitions with the S.C. Supreme Court an attempt “to block the opportunity for a fair and reasonable election.”

Glover said it is Norwood’s protest with the state Democratic Party that has held up fair and reasonable elections.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t know about Mr. Norwood’s press conference. I don’t care about his press conference,” Glover said, “nor do I care about what his opinions are. As my grandmother said, ‘Everybody’s got one.’”

Williams could not be reached for comment Thursday.

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