2 weeks Ago
MARION — The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating Republican Party claims of a ballot-harvesting operation in rural Marion County that could help boost a pair of Democratic incumbents in two battleground Statehouse races. The probe, triggered earlier this week, represents accusations of interference on the part of a small group of political operatives in this tiny Pee Dee community. It largely focuses on the contention that a single, Democratic-leaning precinct in Marion County experienced an unprecedented jump in absentee ballot applications during a competitive Democratic primary for county coroner earlier this year.
The number of requests, Republicans contend, far outpaced the number of applications seen in the area in every election since 2020. Atlantic Beach election goes to court over discarded votes. How did we get here? Voter data reviewed by The Post and Courier showed 16 different people were registered to vote at a single family residence that tax records show is owned by a campaign worker for local Democratic State Rep.
Lucas Atkinson. South Carolina Rep. Lucas Atkinson, D-Marion.
Atkinson defeated his District 57 June primary opponent Cynthia Ford in Marion County (the lone county in District 57 he carried and the place where the largest share of voters reside) by 842 votes , a number that closely mirrored the number of absentee ballot requests this spring. No South Carolinian is permitted to return more than five return-addressed envelopes in an election in addition to their own. Doing so, Attorney General Alan Wilson wrote in a letter to South Carolina's election commissioners the afternoon of Oct.
24, is a felony, with a possible sentence of up to five years in prison. "Clearly what’s happening in Marion County does not pass the smell test," S.C.
GOP Chairman Drew McKissick said in a media statement this week. Atkinson, whose campaign finance reports show has paid the home's listed owner for campaign work this cycle, says he did not have a phone number to contact her when he was reached by The Post and Courier on Oct 23. "I've known her a long time," Atkinson said in an interview.
"Her family, she's helped me since I first ran for office, passing out my campaign literature, putting up signs, just being out in the community and speaking on my behalf. But I don't even know her address to tell you the truth." Today's Top Headlines Story continues below Disabled vet with nearly half-million-dollar salary told VA he was jobless.
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The campaign worker also appeared in campaign finance records filed by Marion County Coroner Jerry Richardson, who faced allegations of ballot harvesting by his opponent, Kendra Fling, after her narrow defeat during this year's Democratic primaries. At the time, Fling alleged multiple individuals were reportedly collecting and submitting ballots in a manner "inconsistent with lawful procedures." In some cases, she alleged Richardson volunteers were discarding ballots if they were not in support of specific candidates.
One disabled man testified during a Democratic Party challenge that he never even saw the absentee ballot that was filed on his behalf during the primary. Former Aiken County election director indicted on embezzlement charge Those activities are still going on, she claims. "As we speak, they are bullying people," Fling's attorney, Democratic activist and military prosecutor Toschia Moffett, said in an interview.
Fling lost her challenge to the election after Richardson's lawyer — conservative Columbia attorney and former S.C. Election Commission Chairman Butch Bowers — successfully argued there was not enough evidence to overturn an election his client had won by more than 300 votes.
Fling lost her appeal to the state party several days later, a result S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Jay Parmley said was due to a lack of sworn witness statements that would have been sufficient to call for a new election.
But Marion County Democratic Party Chairman Deon Taylor said what they heard during those hearings was enough for them to call for an investigation into the underlying claims. "We believe that anyone who engages in illegal absentee ballot practices should be punished," Parmley said in an interview. "We would agree with the Republican Party on that point.
But I'm glad to see them actually caring about free and fair elections." That investigation is still ongoing. McMaster: It’s time for SC to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in our elections.
