S.C. Supreme Court denies Willis’ appeal

FLORENCE — The S.C. Supreme Court has denied Florence Mayor Frank Willis’ appeal in which he sought a new Democratic mayoral primary against Stephen J. Wukela.

“Once the court rules, that’s it — it’s over,” Willis said after the ruling was announced Thursday.

Wukela, with 1,469 votes, defeated Willis by one vote in the certified tally from the primary.

“Of course we’re very happy with the Supreme Court’s decision,” Wukela said. “I believe that this election shows that every man and woman’s vote counts and that together we can make real change.”

In addition, county elections officials have determined that former Democratic Mayor Rocky Pearce has adequate signatures to run as an independent mayoral candidate in November, Florence County interim Voter Registration and Elections Director Steve Love said Thursday.

Willis, who was seeking a fourth term, has said that the mayoral primary was riddled with confusion and problems.

The high court found that names of party candidates must be certified to elections officials by Aug. 15 and, therefore, holding another election would be impossible, according to its opinion.

That was essentially the argument made in Wukela’s final brief to the court.

A 1988 amendment to state law sets the deadline for certification of candidates in situations such as this, the court wrote in its dismissal of the appeal.

“We hold the intent of the Legislature was clear in mandating that, if a municipal election is scheduled to coincide with a November general election, names of the party candidates must be certified by Aug. 15,” the justices wrote.

In a special called meeting Thursday, Florence City Council unanimously passed the second and final reading of an ordinance to change its deadline from Aug. 15 to Sept. 5 for political parties to certify candidates to the city’s elections commission.

In the appeal to the supreme court, Willis’ attorneys argued that state law treats municipal elections differently than other contests and that the deadline for the Florence Democratic party to file its nominee is Sept. 5, 60 days before the November municipal election.

Willis had said the Florence County election commission could hold another primary on Aug. 26 if it had received a court order by Friday.

His attorneys argued that the date set by the city conflicted with state law and “therefore cannot stand.”

Council’s vote took place less than two hours before the high court dismissed the appeal. During the vote, Willis recused himself and stepped out of the room.

County elections officials had been planning to send the S.C. State Election Commission a list of certified candidates by Aug. 15 unless the high court had ordered the new election, Love, the interim county elections director, said in a previous interview.

The process of protesting and appealing began shortly after the June 10 primary.

On June 26, Willis’ attorneys filed an appeal calling for the 12th Circuit Court to reverse a 4-2 decision of the state Democratic party’s Board of State Canvassers of Municipal Primaries and order a new election. The board reached its decision after an eight-hour hearing in Columbia.

The case then went to circuit court back in Florence, where a 90-minute hearing on Willis’ appeal took place July 2.

Twelfth Circuit Judge Michael Nettles later denied Willis’ request to reconsider the July 14 ruling denying the protest. Willis then appealed to the state supreme court.