Marlboro County residents made their voices heard Tuesday with a resounding “no” to the proposed Wallace landfill.
The non-binding referendum asked voters to give their opinions on whether they wanted the proposed landfill to come to their county
According to Lori Davis, director of Voter Registration for Marlboro County, 2,372 people voted “no,” while 166 voted “yes” to the question, “Do you support private landfills in Marlboro County?”
Davis said although voter turnout was less than it was for the primary, it still was a good turnout.
“Voter turnout was low, but good,” she said. “It was better than we expected, especially in the areas where they are planning on putting the proposed landfill.”
Despite the heated debate surrounding the issue, Davis said voters were very polite to one another.
“Everyone was pretty much cooperative today,” she said.
Although the results of the vote will not force the hand of county council, it will give them food for thought as the debate continues in Marlboro County.
Cecil Kimrey, county administrator for Marlboro County, said he would not comment on the outcome of the referendum, but many of his constituents were more than willing to provide their thoughts on the subject.
Lucy Parsons, former mayor of Bennettsville, said she did not yet know the results of the referendum, but she hoped they were against the landfill.
“I heard the turnout was low but everybody I know voted against it,” she said. “I guess time will tell when the lever is pulled.”
Chuck Ashburn, a self-proclaim “poll watcher,” said the biggest surprise of the day was not that the majority of people voted against the landfill, but rather the people who showed up to vote in the referendum.
“We work the polls at every election,” Ashburn said. “We had a big turnout this morning, then it sort of slowed down. But probably 95 percent is going to be ‘no.’ We’ve got people we haven’t seen voting in years.”
He also said Sen. Gerald Malloy showed up at the Wallace polling station to offer words of encouragement to voters.
“He said he’s going to call Rep. Doug Jennings and try to stop this thing,” Ashburn said. “I told him ‘Don’t lie to me,’ and he said ‘I don’t lie.’”
Roy Quick, one of Ashburn’s fellow poll watchers, said he told Malloy that talking to the voters alone wouldn’t get the job done.
“He told us he is against this thing,” Quick said. “I told him you need to tell someone else.”
Belvin Sweatt, chairman of the Citizens for Marlboro County, however, said he will wait to see if MRR, the company proposing the landfill, will hold to what they said in a previous county council meeting.
“(MRR) told us that if the citizens voted (them) out and said they don’t want (the landfill) here, (they) would not come here,” Sweatt said. “We want to see if MRR Southern will hold true to their word.”
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