FLORENCE - Lawyers representing the S.C. Democratic Party and its executive committee have asked a U.S. District judge to abstain from hearing a petition by Sen. Maggie Glover in the S.C. Senate District 30 election controversy.

The letter from attorney William Nettles to Judge Terry Wooten cites several court cases to support Nettles’ contention that Glover’s petition does not belong in federal court.

The June 8 Democratic Primary between incumbent Sen. Maggie Glover, Tim Norwood and Kent Williams became even more controversial immediately after the votes were counted. While Glover took first place in the race with 35 percent of the vote, the initial election night count showed a dead heat between Norwood and Williams, with Norwood ahead by seven votes. The June 9 certification of the election results, however, produced a different result, with six votes separating Norwood and Williams. According to state law, a mandatory recount of the vote must be held by individual county election commissions if less than 1 percent of the total vote separates two candidates. On June 12, the election results were sent to the state Election Commission for certification, which ordered the mandatory recount. The recount was held June 14 and another different result was found, with Williams winning a runoff spot by six votes over Norwood. Meanwhile, Williams filed an election protest with the S.C. Democratic Party, alleging several instances of voter fraud and irregularities in the counting of absentee ballots. Norwood filed a protest of his own, and was heard June 16 after Williams withdrew his protest. Based on evidence presented by Norwood, the Executive Committee of the state Democratic Party voted 18-3 to void the results of the June 8 primary, and ask Gov. Mark Sanford to order a special election. The committee also voted to turn over all the evidence presented by Norwood to the State Law Enforcement Division for investigation. Since the executive committee made its decision, Williams and Glover both filed petitions with the S.C. Supreme Court, asking it to throw out the party’s invalidation of the election. They both asked the court to order a runoff election between them. Sanford has said he won’t do anything with the request to order a new election until all petitions are heard. The Supreme Court refused to hear Glover’s and Williams’ petitions. U.S. District Judge Terry Wooten set a tentative date of Aug. 6 to hear Glover’s petition. In addition to the Supreme Court petition, the Florence County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the allegations of voter fraud in the election.

Glover filed her petition in federal court and the S.C. Supreme Court, asking that the state Democratic Party’s decision to void the June 8 Democratic primary be thrown out. The party ruled the primary results invalid after candidate Tim Norwood protested the election and cited more than 600 examples of voter fraud and voting irregularities in the primary.

Glover and candidate Kent Williams both filed petitions with the state Supreme Court, saying that Norwood missed a deadline to file a protest and that the party’s decision to throw the election results out was wrong. The S.C. Supreme Court refused to hear both petitions.

Wooten conducted a hearing Tuesday, telling attorneys he has concerns about whether he has jurisdiction to hear Glover’s petition.

He gave the lawyers representing the Democratic Party, the state Election Commission and Gov. Mark Sanford until noon Wednesday to submit case law to show whether he had jurisdiction.

Nettles filed two letters to the judge, citing several cases that he says show that Wooten should not hear Glover’s petition.

In his letters, Nettles told Wooten that a judge in a similar case in 1986 “set forth an extensive discussion of the extremely limited authority of federal courts to intervene in state election disputes.”

Another case cited by Nettles, Lemonds v. St. Louis County, 2000, is described as “almost identical to the present case except for the office at issue,” he wrote. “Based on Lemonds, all of the plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed.”

Wooten set Aug. 6 as a tentative date for hearing Glo-ver’s petition. Attorneys have until Monday to file any motions in the case, assuming the judge does not deny the hearing.

When the Democratic Party’s executive committee invalidated the June 8 primary for S.C. Senate District 30, it also asked Sanford to set a date for a new election. Sanford has refused to do that until all petitions are resolved in court.

Glover and Williams asked the courts to order a runoff election between them in time to have the results certified for the Nov. 2 general election. There is no Republican opposition for the seat. Norwood is asking for a new election to be conducted.

Whether a new election is held or a runoff is ordered, the race has been a costly one. The three candidates have spent more than $700,000 combined on their campaigns, with Norwood shelling out more than $600,000.

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