The Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Clarendon County will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 16, on Republican Kimberly Herbert's written protest of alleged voting-access problems at the Davis Station precinct in the Nov. 3 auditor's race, which she lost by 147 votes, just outside the automatic recount threshold.
According to a public notice issued Thursday, the board will meet as the County Board of Canvassers at 3 South Church Street in Manning. The meeting is open to the public. The agenda includes an evidentiary hearing with testimony and cross-examination, an executive session for advice from the board's attorney, and deliberation and action, "including findings, disposition, any legally authorized election relief, and appropriate action concerning certification of the election results."
The board certified the results Nov. 6, with Democratic incumbent Patricia Pringle at 6,835 votes and Herbert at 6,688, a margin of 147. An automatic recount is required when the margin is 1 percent or less of the votes cast for the office. With 13,523 votes cast for auditor, that threshold is about 135 votes. Herbert finished about 12 votes, or about nine-hundredths of a percentage point, beyond it.
Herbert submitted the protest on Nov. 10. She cited a "reported margin of only 144 votes," the unofficial election-night figure; the certified margin is 147. She wrote that Davis Station "reportedly failed to open for more than one hour after the required 7:00 a.m. opening time," citing S.C. Code § 7-13-60, which requires polls to open at 7 a.m. "Of particular concern," she wrote, "is that the precinct was under the responsibility of an experienced election clerk who should have been familiar with established election procedures and the importance of providing timely access to voting."
She wrote that voters "reportedly were not offered provisional ballots or another alternative means of casting their votes" while the precinct was closed, and that witnesses "have reported observing individuals leaving the polling location after being unable to vote because the precinct had not opened." Given the narrow margin, she wrote, "the possibility that eligible voters were unable to cast ballots because of an administrative failure deserves careful consideration."
Poll watchers, whose accounts have not been independently verified, said a missing check-in access code delayed the first vote at Davis Station until about 8:10 a.m., roughly 70 minutes late, and that about 17 people were in line at 7:32 a.m. A poll watcher reported seeing voters leave without voting, including one who left for work. They said the poll manager declined to offer paper or provisional ballots, hours were not extended, and state election staff and a technician were sent to the precinct.
Poll watchers also reported problems elsewhere in the countywide race: a scanner down at Turbeville from about 12:52 p.m. until at least 2:16 p.m., with about 258 ballots waiting until a replacement arrived; a scanner out of paper at Jordan from about 7:10 to 8:02 a.m., with ballots placed in an emergency slot; check-in machines out for roughly an hour at Bloomville and Summerton 1; and voters directed from one polling place to another late in the day at several precincts.
In the notice, the board said it has made no determination on the merits of the protest. As of Friday, the board had not otherwise issued a public response to the allegations, and Pringle had not issued a public comment. The certified results stand unless the board, after hearing the protest, takes other action allowed under state law.