The State Election Commission will hear testimony Tuesday on whether it should order a new election between incumbent Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, and attorney Dickie Jones.

The Jones campaign already is signaling that Tuesday might not be the end of the fight.

Jones, a Sumter attorney and a Republican, filed a protest with the commission after a recount of the Nov. 2 election showed Leventis won by 86 votes out of more than 30,000 cast.

Jones charges that numerous Election Day irregularities — possible double voting and ballots that were missing — likely threw off the results.

Jones spokesman J. Cabot Seth said while there is no evidence of an orchestrated effort to skew the results, the commission still should order a new election.

“We have significant instances that could have made a difference, and that’s the legal standard,” Seth said.

Jones’ supporters also have not ruled out using a state statute — which has never been used in the S.C. Senate — that allows for a direct appeal to the GOP-controlled Senate if things do not go their way Tuesday, Seth said.

Leventis, who has served in the Senate since 1981, said the move would be “a Republican power grab.”

“It wouldn’t just be rare; it would be unprecedented,” he said. “To do something like that would be ignoring the people of Sumter County.”

Seth said Jones is confidant the commission will order a new election Tuesday, but Jones would be unfazed by the novelty of a Senate appeal. “Do you think Dickie cares about that?”

Republicans blame Leventis for holding up key legislation by filibustering a bill that would have moved the state closer to getting rid of minibottles.

The S.C. House has heard a few election appeals in recent decades but has refused to order new elections.

Reach Stensland at (803) 771-8358 or jstensland@thestate.com