BRANCHVILLE, S.C. — The Town of Branchville had a special election on Tuesday to fill a council seat. Write-in candidate Clayton Baker won the election and says he's ready to serve.
“That’s the goal is to make this community good and thriving like it should be," said Baker.
This week's special election brought 61 voters to the polls. According to the Orangeburg County Voter Registration office, this week's special election had a turn out of 11.5 percent. Baker secured 38 votes, winning by 16 votes.
His opponent, Wendy Myles was the only candidate on the ballot and secured 22 votes.
“You might get a handful of voters that come out, especially, when it’s only one person on the ballot so we were kind of surprised that there was a write-in and that we got this many people that came out to vote," said voter registration director Aurora Smalls.
The retired U.S. military veteran has 42 years of service under his belt, and formerly served as chief of the Branchville Fire Department. He volunteered with the department for 50 years, and is currently a deacon at the Branchville Baptist Church.
Baker says now, he's ready to serve in his new role.
“I’m gonna do the best that I can do and I just wanna thank everybody for the votes and stuff and the confidence they got in me and to think they could put that much in me, I’m gonna try to do what I can do to do it," he said.
The official swearing in ceremony is April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Branchville Town Hall.