The lengthy dispute over who won the January election to fill Charleston County Council's District 7 seat will be settled with a new special election in July.

Gov. Mark Sanford issued an executive order Friday setting the date for a new election at July 19. That's the date the county elections board requested earlier this month.

Republican Joey Douan, who narrowly won in January, and Democrat Colleen Condon, who successfully challenged those election results, have both said they would run again if a new election is held. Douan could not be reached Friday, but Condon said she's pleased with the date selected because she wanted "a fair election as fast as possible."

Douan won by 18 votes out of more than 3,000 cast Jan. 11 by West Ashley residents. Condon protested the outcome, arguing that more than 200 voters in Plantation Apartments had been accidentally left off the rolls in the district.

The apartment complex is in District 7, but because of county election officials' errors, some voters there were allowed to cast ballots in November in the District 5 council race. Continuing confusion over which district the apartments are in caused election officials to turn away some who tried to vote in the District 7 race in January.

The Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration tossed the January results out. The S.C. Election Commission concurred, stating that a mapping error had shifted the apartments' voters from District 7 to District 5. The state Supreme Court refused to hear Douan's appeal.

The District 7 seat was to have been decided in November's general election. But the District 7 race was postponed when Republican Barrett Lawrimore, the incumbent and council chairman, died just before the elections.