Willis, Wukela await recount before deciding next moves

FLORENCE — Florence’s mayoral candidates, separated by one vote, are awaiting the results of a recount scheduled for today before deciding the next steps their campaigns will take in the primary process.

Incumbent Frank Willis and Stephen Wukela, who leads by one vote, said they will be present for the Democratic primary recount. The candidate who wins the primary likely will face no opposition in November because no Republicans have filed to run for mayor.

The recount will take place at 10 a.m. and include 17 provisional ballots that haven’t been counted so far. The county election commission will review those paper ballots to determine their validity.

PRIMARY RESULTS

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Such ballots are challenged because of voter eligibility questions, including a change of address or possible voting at the incorrect precinct, acting Florence County Voter Registration and Elections Director Steve Love said.

“I won’t know until they open them up,” Love said, because the ballots have been sealed.

Provisional ballots are common in an election, but especially important in this contest because they could affect the close vote count if cast by a city resident.

“It was obviously a very close race and a hard-fought race, and it demonstrates that every vote counts,” Wukela said Wednesday.

Wukela received 1,468 votes, while Willis had 1,467, according to unofficial county results including absentee ballots.

“To come up one vote short was never in any of the scenarios we thought about,” Willis said Wednesday.

The mayor, who is seeking a fourth term, said he has heard stories of city residents who couldn’t vote in the municipal election while out-of-city residents were given the option to vote in the city primaries.

“It was confusing,” Willis said. “A lot of people simply did not understand the process.”

Love would say only that county elections officials are looking into such matters.

Willis also said the addition of city property through annexation could be one reason for confusion as city boundaries change.

Wukela said he thought elections workers did “an excellent job” in carefully handling the primaries, but he wants to ensure everyone is satisfied the contest was handled properly.

Dr. Neal Thigpen, a political science professor at Francis Marion University, said the Republican city council primary might have diminished Willis’ turnout.

“The Republican primary, particularly (city council candidate) Glynn Willis’ strong campaign,” might have taken away “a goodly number of white folks” who would have voted for the mayor on the Democratic side, Thigpen said.

Wukela focused on north Florence when campaigning and has said Florence faces a racial, financial and geographical division between predominantly black north Florence and mostly white south Florence.

Wukela won significantly more votes in precincts in the northern and eastern parts of the city. Willis’ victories were concentrated in south and west Florence.

Wukela also might have gained an edge from his support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, while Willis has supported U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, Thigpen said.

“I think that split kind of gained the Wukelas the upper hand, at least in part among black voters,” Thigpen said.

Thigpen also said he thought Willis might have perceived Wukela as “not the heaviest opposition that he could face.”

But Willis said he won’t second-guess his campaign strategies.

“We feel like we ran a good, solid campaign,” he said.

Willis, who has served as mayor for 13 years, hadn’t faced opposition since 1995, when he was first elected mayor.

Wukela first sought public office four years ago, when he ran unsuccessfully against state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, who is unopposed in seeking an eighth Senate term in November.

The county elections commission also must meet before 1 p.m. today as the Florence County Board of Canvassers to declare the primary results, which it must certify to the S.C. State Election Commission by noon Saturday.

Challenges and appeals to decisions on the results could go beyond the county Democratic executive committee to the state level, Thigpen said.

Florence County Democratic Party chairman Spencer Scott could not be reached for comment by press time Wednesday.