FLORENCE -- State Sen. Maggie Glover spoke up Friday about the S.C. Democratic Party's decision to throw out the results of the June 8 Senate District 30 primary election, calling the decision a flagrant violation of the Voter Rights Act.

The results of the election were ruled invalid by the executive committee of the S.C. Democratic Party on June 18 after the committee heard a protest from candidate Tim Norwood.

The committee then sent a request to Gov. Mark Sanford to call a special election for Senate District 30. Sanford has not set a date for the election.

Glover would have faced Kent Williams in a runoff Tuesday had the primary not been ruled invalid. Williams was declared the second-place finisher after a mandatory recount put him seven votes ahead of Norwood. In the original election count, Norwood finished six votes ahead of Williams.

Norwood alleged irregularities and possibly illegal tampering with absentee ballots in the election.

Williams entered a similar protest, but withdrew it the day of the hearing.

In his protest, Norwood said a campaign worker on Williams' staff tampered with absentee ballots at a Mullins nursing home. Williams has denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.

Glover said Norwood's protest of the election was filed after the party's deadline and should not have been heard. Norwood counters that his protest was filed in accordance with the state Election Commission's rules.

Glover also said the party should have invalidated every race, not just the Senate District 30 race.

"How can the votes only be tainted in the District 30 race?" she asked at a press conference Friday. "All the other races were on the same ballot."

Senate District 30 covers parts of Florence, Marion, Marlboro and Dillon counties. But the results for other races in the district, including several council and sheriff's races, were not invalidated.

In the race for Marion County Sheriff, incumbent Billy Page, who is black, narrowly lost to Mark Richardson, a white candidate. Glover said the fact that Marion County has a 60 percent black population sends up a red flag that something in the election was wrong.

Another black incumbent in Marion County, District 2 Councilman Harold Crawford, also lost to a white candidate, Eloise Rogers.

State Democratic Party Executive Director Michele Macrina said the party's executive committee was limited in the actions it could take in the protest hearing.

"The state executive committee only heard a protest in District 30, and not the other races, because protests were not filed in the other races," Macrina said.

Williams also argued that the party's executive committee should not have invalidated the election.

"We have a responsibility to make sure that every voter who cast a ballot on June 8 has their vote counted," he said. "We have a responsibility to have a runoff election between myself and Maggie Glover."

The invalidation of the election will work to increase voter apathy, Glover said.

"They bent the rules and that sends a dangerous message to voters," she said. "At a time when we are encouraging all citizens to exercise their right to vote, this illegal special election threatens to return South Carolina to a time when black candidates could not be elected to the Statehouse."

But Macrina pointed out that the party's executive committee is made up of people of different races, and its members voted, 18 to 3, to invalidate the race.

"The state executive committee is made up of individuals from all across the state, and they're black and white members, and they take their job very seriously," Macrina said. "Their decision was based on the overwhelming evidence they heard about voter irregularities."

That evidence will be turned over to the State Law Enforcement Division for investigation into the alleged election fraud. SLED has not received the formal request for an investigation, but is aware of it, Macrina said.

"We have not delivered the transcript of the hearing to SLED, but we have talked to Chief Robert Stewart, and he knows it's coming, and he's anxious to get started on the investigation," Macrina said. "But they can't start the investigation until they have the transcript."

Macrina said the court reporter's transcript of the protest hearing should be finished by the first week of July, at which time it will be sent to SLED along with several affidavits from voters who said their absentee ballots were filled out by other people.

While condemning the party's decision to throw out the election results, Glover praised its decision to turn over all evidence gathered at the protest hearing to SLED. She said she'd like to see SLED investigate all of the races in Dillon, Florence, Marion and Marlboro counties, not just the Senate District 30 race. Williams and Norwood have said they support a SLED investigation.

Voter apathy is a problem Glover and Williams worry about because of the controversy surrounding the election.

"We have at this time a real attempt to disenfranchise the voters, and the African-American vote in particular," Glover said at the press conference.

Williams stopped short of calling the invalidation a racially-motivated action.

"I believe that holding a new election disenfranchises every voter," he said.

As for the accusation that the state Democratic Party is violating the Voter Rights Act of 1965, Macrina said the U.S. Department of Justice will make that call.

"Once the governor sets a new election date, we will get pre-clearance from the Justice Department on the new date to meet all requirements of the Voter Rights Act of 1965," she said. "The whole goal is a fair and just election for all parties, including Sen. Glover."