COLUMBIA, S.C. - More than a month after the November election, the State Election Commission upheld a Senate election that confirmed incumbent Sen. Phil Leventis the winner by a narrow margin.

The five-member commission on Tuesday unamimously upheld the results of the Sumter County Election Commission, which found Leventis, D-Sumter, defeated Republican challenger Dickie Jones by just 86 votes.

The county declared Leventis the winner with 15,540 votes after a mandatory recount was required by state law because the margin of victory was so small. Leventis said the recount was precise and his attorney called it "pretty darn close" to perfect.

"The error rate was very small," said Leventis, who has held the seat since 1981. "And these folks at the Election Commission were very much in tune with the facts and not with the rhetoric or the emotion. They understand the law."

Commissioners, who deliberated for more than an hour, did not discuss their decision and would not comment after the meeting.

Lawyers for Jones argued that voting irregularities tainted the election in the seat that includes parts of Lee and Sumter counties.

Jones said Tuesday he had no plans to appeal.

"I'm sure that I won't be appealing at this point." Jones said. "Honestly, I think we could win an appeal, but even if we could win an appeal ... you need to get on with life sometimes. And this is one of those times where we just need to get on with life."

An appeal would have gone to the state Senate. The state Constitution says the Senate has the final word on who sits in its 46 seats.

Jones said he had talked to some senators but would not discuss why he thought he could win an appeal. Republicans hold 26-20 majority in the Senate.

Leventis disagreed with Jones.

"I believe that with the facts being on my side and the facts of the law, the only thing to pound on would be the table," he said.

Leventis angered Republican senators and Gov. Mark Sanford on the last day of the legislative session in June, holding the Senate floor for hours, railing against Sanford's nominee for chairman of the Workers' Compensation Commission.

The commission's hearing Tuesday lasted for more than five hours, much of it testimony by Jones' witnesses.

Jones' attorney Steven Hamm said there were numerous reports of irregularities at precincts in Sumter and Lee County. Hamm said at least 118 more ballots were cast than there were signatures in the election register. State law requires voters to sign before they can be given a ballot to vote.

That law ensures that "people in Florida, Argentina or Florence County" can't vote in Sumter County elections, Hamm said.

Hamm also said at least three felons were allowed to vote and one person voted twice - by absentee ballot and at the polls.

Sumter County registration and election director Pat Jefferson said the numbers Hamm cited were not official tallies used to certify election results. Jefferson said her staff found only 15 more ballots than signatures.

Those ballots added to seven absentee ballots that were not counted, and 25 empty envelopes for provisional ballots incorrectly put in ballot boxes only created about a 50-vote margin, said Terry Horne, who represented Sumter County.

"It wasn't a perfect election but I'd like to submit to you it was pretty darn close," said Steve Bates, Leventis' attorney.