Tag: special election

Congratulations Russell Fry

Russell Fry secured election to SC House District 106 in Tuesday’s special general election.

Unopposed on the ballot, Fry captured 438 votes of the 447 votes counted with the remaining nine being write-in votes.

Fry’s election was a foregone conclusion after he won an August 18, 2015 special primary runoff election over Horry County Council member Tyler Servant by 1,736 votes to 1,166 votes.

Fry is scheduled to be sworn into office by SC House Speaker Jay Lucas at the Surfside Beach Town Council Chambers Saturday September 19, 2015 at 4 p.m.

The special election was to fill out the unexpired term of SC House District 106 Rep. Nelson Hardwick who resigned from office in the spring.

Fry will be representing the citizens of SC House District 106 when the General Assembly resumes business in January 2016 for the second year of the current legislative session.

All House seats will be up for election in the November 2016 general election.

SC House District 106 Election Absurdities

The special Republican primary election for SC House District 106 has taken some absurd turns in the past two weeks.

The Republican primary runoff between Russell Fry and Tyler Servant will be held Tuesday August 11, 2015 with the winner gaining the nomination and almost assured election since there will be no other candidates on the ballot.

A Facebook post followed by an attempt to turn this post into a credible story saw Fits News question whether the Confederate flag would play a part in this election.

Susan Chapman claimed to change her preference from Russell Fry to Tyler Servant because Fry said he would have voted to take the flag down while Servant said he would have voted for a referendum on the flag.

Evidently Chapman prefers a candidate who passes the buck to one who can make decisions. I don’t pay any attention to what Chapman says, but, does this mean she no longer supports Lindsey Graham who was also outspoken about the flag coming down?

Then, questions about Servant’s legal residence and his affinity to dodge live forums and questions emerged.
According to a report in the Sun News, Servant claims his residence as a house that has been rented to tourists for 56 days over this tourist season.

Attempting to explain the situation, Servant was quoted in the story as comparing his situation to legislators spending several nights a week in Columbia during the legislative session.

“It’s not an issue” Servant was quoted as saying. “If it was an issue that would make every single legislator in the state of South Carolina have a residency problem since they go to Columbia six months out of the year, every week for two days.”

Oh really – are all the legislators renting out their houses each week while they are gone?

International Drive Talks

Representatives from Horry County, the Coastal Conservation League and SC Wildlife Federation will meet this afternoon to discuss International Drive.

The talks will be an exploration to determine if any compromise is possible to get the International Drive construction started.

As of right now, the environmentalist groups have until August 29, 2015 to determine if they will appeal a recent decision by the SCDHEC board not to conduct a final review on the project.

If it comes, the appeal will be made to the Administrative Law Court.

Representatives of the CCL have indicated in media reports that they may be open to a compromise solution that would avoid more legal action and move the project along.

Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus reached out to the groups after the SCDHEC decision to determine if any compromise is possible.

Lazarus told me he thought it was proper to take the initiative on attempting to find a compromise.

“IF it goes to court, I will feel better being able to say we tried to find a compromise,” Lazarus said.

I salute Lazarus on the attempt. There is really nothing that should be stopping the International Drive project from moving forward other than senseless roadblocks put up by the environmentalist groups.

Special Election Voting on the South End

Voters on the south end of Horry County will have special elections at least the next two and probably three Tuesdays.

Beginning tomorrow, voters in House District 106 will get their first crack at selecting a Republican nominee to replace Rep. Nelson Hardwick who resigned in the spring.

Russell Fry, Sam Graves, Dr. Roy Sprinkle and recently elected Horry County Council member for District 5 Tyler Servant will vie for the Republican nomination.

There are no Democrats or third party candidates in the race.

If no candidate receives 50 percent plus one vote from the voters who show up to the polls, a runoff election among the top two vote getters in the House District 106 race will be held Tuesday August 11th.

In between those two dates, the special general election for Horry County Council District 6 will be held Tuesday August 4th.

Republican nominee Cam Crawford will be the only name on the ballot, but we are hearing rumblings of a possible write-in vote campaign in a stop Crawford effort.

Write-in campaigns are difficult in the best of times, but voters who support Crawford should get out to the polls next week.

Voter turnout has been exceptionally low in the special primary summer elections. The District 6 primary saw 7% of eligible voters go to the polls.

Only a few hundred votes are needed to be elected in any of these races.

If you are a supporter of any of the candidates, be sure you make it to the polls. It is this type of low turnout special election where one vote can make a difference.

Our pick for tomorrow?

Fry and Servant will face off in a primary election runoff in two weeks.

SC House District 106 Forum

The South Strand Republican Club is hosting a candidate forum for the four candidates in the SC House District 106 special election.

The forum will take place at the Horry County Burgess Community Recreation Center on Scipio Lane beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday July 21, 2015. The first hour will consist of a social hour where you can meet candidates informally. Questioning will begin at 7 p.m.

This is another opportunity for House District 106 voters to see and hear the four Republican candidates who filed for the special election Republican primary prior to voting.

The four candidates who have filed for the special Republican primary are Russell Fry, Sanford Cox “Sam” Graves, Tyler Servant and Dr. Roy Sprinkle. No Democratic candidates filed for the vacant seat.

Voting in the special primary election will be held Tuesday July 28, 2015 with a primary runoff Tuesday August 11, 2015 if no candidate garners 50% plus one of the votes cast.

Former Horry County Council member Carl Schwartzkopf will be acting as the moderator of the forum.

Questions will include both state issues and legislative delegation coordination with local governments so Horry County citizens are not forgotten in Columbia.

Special elections, especially in the summer months, can turn on a few votes. It is important to hear the candidates’ speak on their qualifications and the issues they consider most in need of addressing at the state level.

Cam Crawford Wins County Council Primary

Cam Crawford won the Republican primary special election for the Horry County Council District 6 nomination.

Crawford gathered 547 votes (53%) to 482 votes (47%) for opponent Kirk Hanna. The totals are uncertified at this point. They will be certified by the Horry County Election Commission Thursday July 2, 2015 at 10 a.m.

Hanna topped Crawford by 31 votes in the first round of the primary two weeks ago, but Crawford reversed that result to win by 65 votes in the election that counted.

Still to come is the special general election on August 4, 2015 where Crawford will be the only name on the ballot as there is no Democratic nominee. However, a write-in challenge to Crawford is always possible.

However, a successful write-in campaign is extremely unlikely, which means Cam Crawford should be the next Horry County Council member from District 6 after the August election formalities.

The election heated up in the last few days as revelations that Peter Bishop, a one-time employee of Hanna’s construction company Hanco of SC, was arrested on June 11, 2015 for submitting nine fabricated and forged soil compaction reports to Horry County Code Enforcement while working at Hanco.

Over the last 36 hours of the campaign, a mail piece intended to be negative to Cam Crawford, surfaced in some District 6 mailboxes.

Both campaigns denied any knowledge of the large postcard size mailer. However, as the alleged sender, the LGBT Association of Horry County, does not exist, those claims, for one camp, appear to be false.

SC House District 106 Filing Starts Friday

Filing for the special election for SC House District 106 will open Friday May 29, 2015 at noon.

The special election will fill the unexpired term of Rep. Nelson Hardwick who resigned from office earlier this month.

While nothing becomes official until filing papers and fees are submitted, two candidates have already announced their intentions to seek the office.

Russell Fry, an Horry County attorney and Republican Party executive committeeman, and Tyler Servant, Horry County Council District 5 member, have announced they will be running for the open SC House District 106 seat.

We are hearing Chuck Ottwell, recently appointed to the Coast RTA board, and former candidate for Horry County Council District 5 is planning to run.

Local writer Mande Wilkes’ name has been aired as a possible candidate. She challenged Hardwick in the 2010 Republican Primary for the nomination and scored an impressive 45% of the vote against a, then, three term incumbent.

However, Wilkes and husband Alex Robinson have had a son since that race, which may be a deterring factor to running for office at this time.

We are hearing speculation that Reese Boyd III, Horry County attorney and former Republican Party official, who lost to Servant in a runoff for the Horry County Council District 5 Republican nomination, may also be considering a run.

Boyd is the most experienced and probably best qualified of the names mentioned.

Blaine Garren Announces Candidacy for District 6

Blaine Garren announced his candidacy for the open Horry County Council seat in District 6 during a press conference Friday.

The press conference was held at 3 p.m. at the Socastee Library on Hwy 707.

A special election will be held to select a new member to fill the unexpired term of recently deceased council member Bob Grabowski.

Special Election Set for Horry County Council District 6

Special election dates have been set for Horry County Council District 6 to fill the unexpired term of Bob Grabowski.

Filing for the special election will open April 17, 2015 and close April 27, 2015. Candidates will file with the respective party they wish to contest in on the primary ballot.

The special primary elections for District 6 will be held June 16, 2015.

Special Election Set for S.C. House District 114

The most interesting contest in this fall’s general election in South Carolina will be the special election for S.C. House District 114, the former seat of deposed Speaker Bobby Harrell.

The S.C. Election Commission has determined a special election is called for after Harrell’s resignation from office and has set the date for a Republican s[ecoa primary as November 25, 2014. The Democratic Party candidate, Mary Tinkler, and Green Party candidate, Sue Edwards, are already set through the normal election primary process.

The election commission has set the special general election date for December 9th.