FLORENCE, S.C. - The state Supreme Court has been asked to order a runoff election for the Senate District 30 seat sought by incumbent Sen. Maggie Glover and challenger Kent Williams.

The request from Williams comes after the state Democratic Party's Executive Committee decided to throw out the results of the June 8 election and order a new one.

The date of a new election would be set by Gov. Mark Sanford, but Sanford said he would wait until the Supreme Court deals with Williams' petition.

"The governor's staff is obviously going to continue following the situation, but a new date is certainly not going to be set in advance of the Supreme Court making a determination on the matter," said Sanford's spokesman Will Folks.

Glover won the three-way race earlier this month, but fell short of a majority. The final tally showed Williams and Tim Norwood just seven votes apart. Less than two weeks later, the party's executive committee voted to uphold a protest from third-place finisher Norwood.

Williams filed his petition with the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the party's decision on the basis that Norwood filed his protest two days past the deadline to do so. The petition also asks the court to order the Democratic Party primary runoff election to proceed.

Norwood said that because the mandatory recount was not conducted until June 14, he had until noon the following Monday to file his protest.

The state Supreme Court has not set a date to hear Williams' petition.

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Information from: Morning News, http://www.morningnewsonline.com/