Florence mayor's primary election appeal dismissed

Twelfth Circuit Judge Michael Nettles has dismissed incumbent Florence Mayor Frank Willis’ appeal in the Florence mayoral primary election, the results of which show Willis trailing Stephen J. Wukela by one vote.

In a 46-page ruling released by the Clerk of Court’s office Monday morning, Nettles ruled that Willis’ appeal would be dismissed and affirmed the decision of the city of Florence Municipal Election Commission certifying the June 10 primary election of Wukela as Florence Democratic Party nominee.

“The factors of this controversy and the applicable law will not allow this court to circumvent the will of the people. The voters have spoken ...,” Nettles wrote in the conclusion of his ruling.

“From the beginning, we had (the) utmost confidence in the court and respect for the court,” Wukela said.

Wukela said Willis could continue with litigation, but would like to see an end to it and begin to move forward.

“We’d like to see this matter resolved,” Wukela said. “The problems that this campaign was addressing with the city still exists. Evans Street is still decaying, the gangs are still growing, the abandoned houses are still standing ... We’d like to get past this divisive litigation and get on with the business of unifying and rebuilding the city.”

Willis said he didn’t know what his next move would be.

“We didn’t get the order until late this (Monday) morning. I haven’t been able to talk with the lawyers yet,” Willis said after Florence City Council’s regular meeting Monday. “I don’t know what’s going on out there. (I) will have to sit down with my attorneys to discuss what my next steps will be, if any.”

BACKGROUND

The Democratic Party primary June 10 ended with Florence Mayor Frank Willis losing to challenger Stephen Wukela by one vote.
The outcome was appealed first to local election officials and, most recently, to state courts. Here are some of the key stories in the saga:

• Read about the July 2 court hearing

• Read about the state Democratic Party's hearing of Willis' appeal

• Read about outdated maps that were part of the problem

• For complete coverage of the story, click here.

While both Wukela and Willis have waited for Nettles’ ruling, former Florence mayor Rocky Pearce was seeking signatures to become a petition candidate in the mayoral election in November.

Pearce will make an announcement at noon today at Florence Mall. He has until noon Tuesday to present his petition to election officials.

To run as an independent candidate, he needs the signatures of about 1,100, or 5 percent, of the city’s registered voters, acting Florence County Voter Registration and Elections Director Steve Love said.

Petition candidates must be certified by noon Aug. 15.

Pearce served as mayor from 1983 to 1991 as a Democrat. He said he’d run regardless of today’s ruling on Willis’ appeal.

Willis, who’s seeking a fourth term, defeated Pearce in Florence’s 1995 Democratic mayoral primary before defeating Republican John Chase to win his first term in office.

The certified results of a recount in June 10’s mayoral primary showed Wukela with 1,469 votes to Willis’ 1,468 — the same results that followed the review of challenged ballots two days after the June 10 primary.

On June 26, Willis’ attorneys filed an appeal calling for the court to reverse a 4-2 decision of the state Democratic party’s Board of State Canvassers of Municipal Primaries and order a new primary. No Republicans filed for the office.

A 90-minute hearing on the appeal took place July 2 in Florence.

Attorneys for both Willis and Wukela submitted proposed orders July 10, stating how they think the law should have determined the Florence mayoral primary election before Nettles made his ruling Monday.

— Morning News Staff Writer Charles Tomlinson and WBTW News13’s Mackenzie Taylor contributed to this report.