COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina Supreme Court could order a new election for Atlantic Beach mayor and town council after lawyers said some people were forced to reveal their votes.

The state high court heard arguments Tuesday in the case brought by two council members who lost re-election bids and a losing mayoral candidate who say the election should be overturned because the state's secret ballot laws were violated.

As many as 48 voters did not get to cast secret ballots, said Helen McFadden, an attorney for the losing candidates. About 21 of those voters were told to write their choices on a blank piece of paper and six signed their names to the papers, McFadden said.

"These people know each other," she said. "There's a high likelihood they could look at the handwriting and know whose ballot it was."

In addition, 27 absentee ballots were cast in such a way that numbers on the ballots could be matched up with names on an absentee poll list, making it possible for election officials and others to see how those individuals voted, McFadden said.

Chief Justice Jean Toal said the secret-ballot issue represents a serious violation of the election process and could be grounds to hold a new election. But Toal said the Supreme Court may not be able to consider those potential violations on appeal because the issue had not been raised before the local election commission or a lower court.

Former council members John Sketers and Charlene Taylor and Delores Wilson, a council member who lost her bid to unseat Mayor Irene Armstrong, appealed the results of the election first to the election commission and then to a circuit court judge. But arguments in those cases focused on voter fraud, such as ineligible people casting ballots and people being paid to vote.

"The arguments raised today were not raised in the original election protest," said Charles Terreni, a lawyer representing council members Jake Evans and Sherry Suttles. "When we allow these kinds of issues to be heard for the first time in appeals court, we've turned the election process on its head."

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Information from: The Sun News, http://www.myrtlebeachaccess.com/