Friday, July 27, 2012
A May S.C. Supreme Court decision to uphold S.C. election law caused hundreds of non-incumbents to be purged from the ballot as voters seek to give incumbents the boot.
The Nov. 6 ballot could prove confusing to some South Carolina voters. Considering that political experts have called this election year "unprecedented" and "unusual" that might not come as a surprise. Even though neither Mitt Romney nor Barack Obama is expected to set foot in the Palmetto State to campaign, the ballot confusion could have significant ramifications for voters. The most heated election battles in South Carolina are in the primary, where gerrymandered districts decide which nominee to send to the general election against little or no competition. But this year, many incumbents dodged the primary challenge when hundreds of non-incumbent candidates were purged from the ballot. Even some non-incumbents who won the primary could…
Friday, June 29, 2012
Democrats cite improper filing and ask for decertification of all non-incumbent Republican candidates in Dorchester County.
SUMMERVILLE — The Dorchester County Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Friday against the county Republican Party, chairwoman Carroll Duncan and a host of local and state GOP and elections officers. A judge has issued a temporary restraining order. Court dates are expected in the second week in July. The suit claims Dorchester County Republican Party illegally certified all of its non-incumbent candidates, and asks the First Judicial Circuit to decertify the candidates, including GOP nominees for S.C. House District 97 Ed Carter and for S.C. Senate District 38 Sean Bennett. Nearly 250 candidates across the state were purged from ballots after two S.C. Supreme Court decisions leading up to the June 12 primary that said parties must …
Monday, March 5, 2012
S.C. county requires candidates to make pledge to get on ballot
The Republican Party in one South Carolina county adjusted its policies last week to require candidates to sign pledges asserting that they live up to certain conservative principles, according to The Clinton Chronicle. The Laurens County GOP added 28 "principles of Republicanism" to a pledge that a candidate must sign in order to be on a Republican primary ballot there. Some of the required pledge items include: You must oppose abortion, in any circumstances. You must uphold the right to have guns, all kinds of guns. You must endorse the idea of a balanced state and federal budget, whatever it takes, even if your primary responsibility is to be sure the county budget is balanced. You must favor, and live up to, abstinence before …
Thursday, January 19, 2012
With Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropping out of the GOP Primary race ahead of Thursday night's debate, the last four candidates in the field took to the stage at North Charleston Coliseum for the final debate ahead of South Carolina's primary on Saturday
CHARLESTON — And then there were four. The remaining candidates for the Republican nomination for president, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, squared off Thursday night in North Charleston in the final debate ahead of the South Carolina Primary on Saturday. Texas Gov. Rick Perry bowed out of the race earlier on Thursday. CNN moderator John King opened the debate asking Gingrich about an ABC News interview with one of his ex-wives in which she revealed that he asked her to have an open marriage. Gingrich called it despicable to even bring it up. "I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a …
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Thousands flock to Myrtle Beach for weekend of GOP events.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Patch dispatched seven local editors to Myrtle Beach for the South Carolina GOP convention and debate. The event attracted thousands of GOP faithful and hundreds of reporters from around the globe. Our cameras were snapping and rolling the entire weekend. Here is a collection of what we saw.
Twenty-five percent of the women voting in a live poll at the GOP debate in Myrtle Beach changed their vote based on what they heard during the debate.
Newt Gingrich may have won their minds, but Rick Santorum won their hearts. A group of Republican women gathered Monday night at the Sheraton Convention in Myrtle Beach to participate in live polling while watching the Republican Presidential Debate. Using dial-test technology, Palladian View, a political marketing firm led by Karen Floyd, the former chair of the SCGOP, was able to record the real-time reactions of 18 women participating in the poll as they watched the debate. When asked how the debate had affected their vote, 25 percent of the women who responded said their minds had been changed. The marketing group found that 50 percent of the 18 women participating in the poll said Gingrich won the debate. However, 56 percent of those …
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
With a determined core of anyone-but-Mitt GOP voters in South Carolina Gov. Haley's endorsement of Romney likely to sway very few, and may upset her base.
The first female and minority governor of South Carolina, swept into office by a wave of Republican energy in a mid-term election, was supposed to be the top prize. Gov. Nikki Haley's endorsement was coveted by numerous presidential candidates. She appeared at events with Rep. Michele Bachmann and Gov. Rick Perry. She welcomed Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Mitt Romney's wife to spend the night in the governor's mansion. In the end, after GOP candidates spent months campaigning on her pet issues, Haley returned the endorsement favor in December to Romney, who backed her early in her 2010 gubernatorial bid. But what good did it do? While polls that showed Gingrich leading the SC race back in December now put …
Monday, January 2, 2012
Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry is returning to the Palmetto state on Wednesday for a series of campaign stops through Friday
Since jumping into the GOP Presidential Race in August, when he leapt out to an early lead in the polls, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has seen his poll numbers slide largely on weak debate performances. Now trailing in all the early primary states, Perry is making another push in the Palmetto State beginning this week with a trip that includes several stops in the Lowcountry and Midlands. Perry returns to South Carolina Wednesday with two stops in Aiken and one in North Augusta. On Thursday he will start the day with a meet and greet in Lexington at Lizard's Thicket at 9 a.m. before heading to Orangeburg for a meet and greet at noon. Then at 2 p.m. Perry will be walking Summerville's Main Street starting at Guerin's Pharmacy and talking to …
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Executive director talks all things primary
There are still about two months remaining until South Carolina holds its Republican presidential primary on Jan. 21 and the election has already made plenty of news without a single vote having been cast. From questions about whether the state would retain its “First in the South” status, to who will pay for the primary, to the possibility that the streak of selecting the eventual nominee might be broken, the election has been on the lips of both close and casual observers. And that’s not even mentioning the topsy-turvy nature of the candidates' poll numbers. Few South Carolinians are following events closer than Matt Moore, executive director of the South Carolina GOP. Patch had a chance to speak with Moore about what’s happened to date …
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Four South Carolina counties said the state election commission lacks the authority to force counties to pick up the tab for the primary.
Huffington Post and The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the South Carolina Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the GOP's presidential primary. In the article, the state Attorney General Alan Wilson argues the primary is included in state budget law. The AP reported on Tuesday that Beaufort, Chester, Greenville and Spartanburg county election commissions filed the lawsuit and claimed the state had no authority to run the primary and force counties to cover some of the election costs. Conway Belangia, elections director for Greenville County, said "the lawsuit was filed to protect the county's interest." The county election commissions told Patch last month that the 2008 primary left many counties with unpaid expenses. …
Gretchen
8:08 am on Saturday, June 30, 2012
I don't understand all this... however, it seems to me there are LAWS for running for office in this state. Either the candidates complied with the law or NOT. If not, why were they allowed to be on the ballot?? It's just like JAMES ISLAND trying to become a town.....and several times they WORDED the REFERENDA incorrectly. WHO IS IN CHARGE of checking these things? Come on people .... wake up. … more ›