By ANDY COLE
Morning News
FLORENCE -- The S.C. Democratic Party's executive committee will hear protests filed in the June 8 primary today.
The two races being protested are the Senate District 30 race in Dillon, Florence, Marion and Marlboro counties and the House District 122 race in Jasper County.
Candidate Kent Williams, who won a runoff spot against incumbent District 30 Sen. Maggie Glover after a recount of the election, filed a protest with the state Democratic Party on Monday. The protest alleges several irregularities at the polls, mishandled absentee ballots and misinformation given to voters by poll workers in all four counties.
Another candidate in the race, Tim Norwood, who lost the runoff position after the recount, filed a protest Wednesday alleging the same irregularities and that several known felons had voted in the election. It is against state law for a felon to vote.
"We have documentation from the State Law Enforcement Division that several people who voted were felons," Norwood said Wednesday. "We're not confident that there's been a fair and accurate count of the vote, and we're not confident of the election process itself."
But the party's executive committee won't hear Norwood's protest today, said Michelle MacRina, interim executive director of the S.C. Democratic Party.
"We will accept Mr. Norwood's protest," said MacRina. "And it will be presented to the executive committee."
There are 54 members on the Democratic Party's executive committee, 40 percent of which must be present at the meeting to constitute a quorum. MacRina said she did not know whether the committee would rule on either protest at today's hearing.
"It's up to the executive committee whether they want to make a decision immediately or later," she said. "Whether they hear Mr. Norwood's protest or not will also be up to them to decide."
The executive committee of the Democratic Party could rule the election invalid, and order another election just for the Senate District 30 seat. If the party did order another election, it will not stop the June 22 runoff from occurring, according to officials at the state Election Commission.
The hearing of the protests of the June 8 primary will be at 5:45 p.m. today at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
The hearing of the protests of the June 8 primary were heard at 5:45 p.m. today by the SC Democratic Party Executive Committee at the University of South Carolina School of Law. If anyone knows what the outcome was please post to this thread.
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