SUMTER, S.C. — A months-long debate about a Sumter City Council seat might finally be coming to an end with word from the South Carolina Supreme Court.
Back in November, election results were challenged by a Ward One candidate. After the city did not recount the vote, a lawsuit has worked its way up through the judicial system, which means the councilman-elect has not been able to cast his vote since taking office.
"The only thing I was asking was another count of the ballots," former candidate Reggie Evans explains.
It’s why Evans has been working his way through the judicial process after he found out he lost the election for both Sumter City Council Ward One and the School Board District Nine.
But now, the South Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed Evan’s petition for rehearing.
"That’s the end of the line for a protest under state law," lawyer Rob Tyson says.
I spoke with Tyson about South Carolina election law. Tyson is not involved in this litigation in any way, but did provide insight.
"That’s the standard is you’ve got to find something that’s…some challenges that would have some sort of impact or effect on the election result," Tyson details.
It’s why the Sumter County Election Commission says it did not recount the ballots for the city council race back in November. In the school board race against one other candidate, Evans received 652 votes. In the council race against four other candidates, Evans got only 62 votes.
"So my thinking is people who supported me more than likely could have voted for me in area nine, and Ward One. So I go to the front of the county election board and asked them to recount the ballots. That's my only request. They told me they were not going to do that," Evans said about the disparity in votes between the two races. "I said, 'Well, what’s the next step?' They said, 'Well, you can appeal our decision to the Common Plea Circuit Court, which I did."
This decision, and the subsequent appeals following this, means the councilman-elect, Anthony Gibson, has been unable to vote.
"He often says that I don't need the title to continue doing the work," Gibson's campaign manager, Jeffrey Lampkin, shares.
Lampkin says while he’s not able to represent Ward One by casting official votes, Gibson is still able to serve their interests.
"He's still out in the streets. He's still meeting with the constituents of ward one. He's still making a difference. He's out with the recycling campaign. He's out at all city events and functions, but he's not able to cast the vote. And so with that being said, him not being able to cast a vote leads a lot of Ward One constituents feeling that their voice is not able to officially be heard," Lampkin explains. "He's ready to officially begin and doing the work. But he realizes and understands that this is America and this democracy, this process cannot fail. It’s set up in a way and is designed in a way to make sure that the voice of the voter is heard."
But now that the state Supreme Court has denied Evans’ rehearing, Gibson has a tentative date to be sworn in. Tyson tells me that SC election code does not mandate a recount if the number of votes cast for each candidate is more than 1%.
"Generally that's not sufficient grounds to overturn the election because it wouldn’t affect the result of the election," Tyson says.
In this case, Evans received just 6% of the votes. Evans says his concern isn’t about his loss, but instead "my goal is to make sure that all votes are counted. But how it comes out, that's the way it comes out."
"We want to make sure everybody’s vote is counted...Counting the vote is more important than filling the seat," Evans says. "Because we fought hard to get the right to vote."
Now that the Supreme Court has denied the rehearing, Lampkin says Gibson is set to be sworn in later this month.