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Date Published: November 19, 2004
Commission investigates Jones' election allegations
By LESLIE CANTU
Item Staff Writer
lesliec@theitem.com
The Sumter County Election Commission is investigating
the allegations of election irregularities made by Republican state
Senate candidate Dickie Jones, but it is too early to respond to the
protest, county attorney Johnathan Bryan said Thursday.
The
15-page protest filed by Jones with the South Carolina State
Election Commission on Wednesday spends four lines on problems in
Lee County and uses the rest of the space to detail alleged problems
in Sumter County.
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JONES |
| Jones is asking the State
Election Commission to hold a new election for the state Senate
District 35 seat. He lost the seat to the incumbent, state Sen. Phil
Leventis, D-Sumter, by 86 votes. The final outcome of the race was
15,540 to 15,454.
Pat Jefferson, director of the Sumter
County Voter Registration and Election Office, referred questions to
Bryan.
"Pat and her staff are looking into it to see if
there's any merit to the allegations," Bryan said.
The staff
will be cross-checking the signatures on the polling place rolls to
see if 111 more ballots were cast than people signing in, as the
protest alleges.
Each polling place in the city has two
books of voter rolls — one for city elections and one for federal,
state and county elections. Some people might have signed one of the
books but neglected to sign the second book, Bryan said, which could
make it look like more people had voted than had signed in.
Some of the allegations are vague and will take time to
investigate, Bryan said. For example, the protest alleges that three
ineligible felons voted, but it doesn't name them.
Much more
information will come out at the hearing in Columbia, Bryan said.
The State Election Commission has not yet set a date for the
hearing.
The commission is waiting to see how many appeals
are filed by Monday's deadline before it sets dates for hearings.
Races that take place in one county protest to county election
commissions, and if the candidates don't agree with the decision,
they can appeal to the State Election Commission.
State
Senate and House races protest directly to the State Election
Commission.
Three races, state Senate 35, state Senate 28,
which encompasses Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro, Horry and
Williamsburg counties, and state House District 106, in Horry
County, are being protested.
Contact Staff Writer Leslie
Cantu at lesliec@theitem.com or
803-774-1250.
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November 22, 2004 
