GOP tosses out results of Selby-Trout runoff

Councilman Steve Selby shakes the hand of Peggy Payne early today after the county GOP executive committee overturned the results of the runoff between him and Tony Trout. (Patrick Collard/Staff) e-mail this story About Top Jobs

Local Republican leaders decided early today that voting irregularities made it impossible to fairly declare a winner in the June 22 primary runoff — chiefly because 20 voters who participated in the Democratic primary were allowed to vote in the Republican runoff, in violation of state election laws.

Trout's margin of victory over Selby, the incumbent, was 18 votes after a recount was completed last week. Selby challenged the results Monday, leading to Thursday night's hearing at Greenville Technical College before the county's GOP executive committee of 86 leaders.

After Selby and Trout made their cases, the committee went into a closed session at 1:40 a.m. to deliberate and emerged about half an hour later.

The winner of the new runoff will face Democrat Jeff White in the November general election.

In the hearing Thursday evening, Trout's attorney, Bill Foster, called Selby's challenge an "ambush."

"This is like an angry child who lost a game of checkers and wants a do-over," Foster said in his opening statement.

One point of contention was the shading of the boxes on the voter lists that designate party affiliation.

Selby's attorney said some voters were shading that they were Democrats. But Conway Belangia, the county's election director, said that shading could come from what he called "graphite transfer" of opposing pages rubbing against each other.

About 200 people attended the start of the 6 p.m. hearing, but the crowd thinned as the night wore on.

Some people said they'd come to the Verne Smith Auditorium at Greenville Tech just to watch the political process.

"This will affect the future of Greenville County," said John Painter, a self-described Democrat, who said he does not live in the district.

Selby's attorney, Samuel Harms, a GOP executive committee member from Mauldin 1 Precinct, challenged votes.

Harms said 20 votes were cast by people who voted in the Democratic primary two weeks earlier, five other voters had no evidence of party affiliation, one voted twice, one voter was a convicted felon and 13 voters from three precincts appeared to have had their party affiliations changed.

Trout's attorneys said any irregularities were little more than honest mistakes by poll workers.

Voter registration lists checked by poll workers show a voter's name, address and election district. Poll workers also shade a box to indicate which primary voters participate in — Democratic or Republican — and their affiliation must endure through the runoff.

Greenville GOP Chairman Ed Foulke was serving as judge, with the executive committee acting as jury.

The soonest a new runoff could happen would be 60 to 90 days, said Belangia. He said the cost to staff District 18's 12 precincts would be at least $3,600, and printing new ballots would cost another couple of hundred dollars. The State Election Commission covers those costs, he said.

Staff writer Jason Zacher can be reached at 298-4272.