Atlantic Beach candidate: ‘Girl, get off my phone.’ Town’s election called ‘embarrassing’
Gov. Henry McMaster’s office slammed the town of Atlantic Beach over its handling of election proceedings, calling the process an “embarrassing episode.”
The governor’s office denied in a Jan. 10 letter the town’s request for the South Carolina Election Commission to take over the town’s election results. The letter was sent on Jan. 5 by Atlantic Beach’s attorney Joseph Dickey.
It has been more than 60 days since the municipal election in Atlantic Beach and the town is still without a new mayor and a town council.
In November, while trying to recount and certify 18 challenged votes, Atlantic Beach Mayor Jake Evans fired the entire election commission. This left the town unable to authenticate its election results.
That action led to mayoral candidate John David Jr. filing a lawsuit against the town with the South Carolina Supreme Court over the dissolution of the election commission. The lawsuit asked the Supreme Court to decide if politics had a role in the dissolution.
Atlantic Beach officials and their lawyer did not respond Thursday to requests for comment. When a Sun News reporter called Josephine Isom, mayoral candidate and current councilwoman, Thursday seeking comment, Isom said, “Girl, get off my phone,” and then hung up.
The town’s letter to the governor’s office asking that the state take over the administration of the municipal election, included counting of the votes. The letter cited reasons such as “allegations of voter fraud, alleged illegal and improper conduct by a municipal election official, and various legal actions that are now pending before the Supreme Court of South Carolina.”
Thomas Limehouse Jr., chief legal counsel for the governor’s office, wrote in a Jan. 10 response that “the Office cannot accommodate your request for Governor McMaster to end this embarrassing episode. . . by resorting to a procedure that is not authorized by state law.”
The Sun News received both of these letters in an email from the governor’s office.
Limehouse said that the state can only take over the election in two situations: If a town did not hold an election or if a competent authority finds the election to be void. Since neither of those apply, it is not the state’s responsibility.
The letter recommends that Atlantic Beach transfer authority to the Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Elections.
The letter also mentioned that the South Carolina Supreme Court has declined to review David’s case about the election and said the case could be brought to a lower court.
David did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Ian Duggan, David’s attorney, said he would prefer to go through the election board over filing David’s lawsuit with a circuit court.
“While we’re disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision to decline to consider this recent election dispute in Atlantic Beach in the Court’s original jurisdiction, John David’s suit brought needed attention to the Town Council’s efforts to, among other things, dissolve the Town’s Election Commission and terminate Joe Montgomery from his position as the Chair of the Town’s Election Commission,” Dugan said in an email Thursday. “Town Council has an opportunity to fix this issue, though. We hope (Jake) Evans, (Josephine) Isom, and (Jacqueline) Gore will heed the Governor’s good advice and immediately transfer all authority for conducting elections in Atlantic Beach to Horry County.”
How could votes be counted?
If Atlantic Beach does decide to hand over authority of its elections to the Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Elections, it won’t be a fast fix.
Sandy Martin, Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Elections director, said in order for that to happen, the town will need to write a letter to the board requesting for it to take over. If the board says yes, Atlantic Beach and the board would have to agree on terms.
Once an agreement is reached, the Horry County Administration Committee has to approve it, followed by the Horry County Council. Overall, Martin said it could take a few months.
A repeating pattern for Atlantic Beach
The latest Atlantic Beach municipal election dispute boils down to 18 disputed votes. On Election Day, it appeared that Isom won the seat, but later that week, a tally of the challenged votes showed David winning by one vote - 65 to 64.
When the election commission met to count the challenged votes on Nov. 10, Mayor Evans fired all the commission members. On Nov. 25, he reinstated the commission but fired its head, Joe Montgomery, for prohibited political activity.
This is not the first time Atlantic Beach struggled to determine the results of a municipal election. The Sun News reported that between 2005 and 2011, the South Carolina Supreme Court had to step in for an election dispute three times.
One of the times was during a 2009 election when two write-ins won seats on the town council. This was overturned when town officials determined the winners were not Atlantic Beach residents. The Supreme Court overruled this and allowed them to serve on the council but not until the summer of 2011.
“The Town’s repeated inability to conduct such elections in compliance with South Carolina law is equal parts embarrassing and inexcusable,” Limehouse wrote in the Jan. 10 letter.
