Florence mayor to appeal Democratic Party’s decision
John D. Russell/MORNING NEWS
Florence mayoral candidates Frank Willis, incumbent, left, and Stephen J. Wukela listen while acting Florence County Elections Commission and Voter Registration Director Steve Love explains the certification of the primary election recount results June 16 in Florence. When the recount was complete, Wukela was shown to remain one ahead of Willis.
Florence Mayor Frank Willis plans to appeal the S.C. Democratic Party’s decision to uphold the primary results that show Stephen J. Wukela leading the incumbent by one vote.
Willis said Tuesday afternoon he’s not sure when the appeal will be filed in 12th Circuit Court, although it will be sooner than the 10 days after the party’s decision, as required by state law. That deadline would fall July 1.
“We don’t have any significant problems with how it was handled,” Willis said of Saturday’s hearing. “We’re certainly disappointed in the results.”
Wukela said the Democratic party made the right decision, which he and his lawyers will argue to uphold.
“I certainly think that the Democratic party conducted a thorough and deliberate process on Saturday,” he said.
Wukela said last week that he was going to abide by the party’s ruling and wouldn’t appeal.
The certified results of a recount in the mayoral primary showed Wukela with 1,469 votes to Willis’ 1,468 — the same results that followed the June 12 review of challenged ballots.
The winner of the primary will likely be Florence’s next mayor because no Republican candidates filed to run for the office.
Willis, who was seeking a new primary, said in a statement that he has received “literally hundreds” of calls from supporters encouraging him to appeal Saturday’s decision.
He said Tuesday he feels like the decision wasn’t made based on the evidence his attorneys submitted into the record.
“Over and over we have heard of people who were either not allowed to vote or were given the wrong instructions about what election they could participate in,” Willis said in his statement.
The state Democratic party’s Board of State Canvassers of Municipal Primaries voted 4-2 to deny the mayor’s protest after an eight-hour hearing. The board consists of six state party executive committee members, one from each congressional district.
The board heard testimony from nine voters who said poll clerks didn’t give them a chance to vote in the city primaries even though they are city residents.
Willis’ attorneys also published affidavits from five voters who said they were able to vote in the city primaries despite the fact they live outside city limits.
They argued as well that elections officials “admittedly counted an illegal vote” for Wukela in certified vote totals. Wukela’s attorneys argued that the ballot was valid and legally cast by a voter who lives in Florence.
Acting Florence County Voter Registration and Elections Director Steve Love testified Saturday that an extra ballot was counted in addition to the five challenged ballots the commission decided to count in the final vote totals.
In all, two city ballots were among the challenged ballots.
After the election’s results had been certified, county elections commission chairman James Tanner said officials couldn’t decertify the results.
If Willis loses, he can’t run as a petition candidate in November because of a pledge he has signed with the Democratic party, former state party Executive Director Joe Werner said last week, before he left to work on a U.S. House race in Pennsylvania.
In addition, the S.C. State Election Commission wouldn’t allow a defeated candidate’s name to be placed on the ballot, based on state law, Werner said.
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Reader Reactions
Yeah, sore loser. Forget about the 9 people that didn’t get a chance to vote.
The mayor’s job must be extremely lucrative for Willis to be whining like this. Seems like since this was a political party event that the Democratic Party would have the final word.Then again, I’m trying to apply common sense to this situation and that is probably the wring tactic to use.
This is just unreal! Another appeal is just going to further divide this city as the election results have indicated. The really sad part of all of this is that less than 10% of the city’s population voted and was allowed to elect Stephen Wukela Mayor with just one more vote than Mayor Willis. It’s not sad that Wukela won, I’m excited! It’s sad that 90% of the city’s residents allowed 10% to decide for them. Those that didn’t vote are the one’s I’ve heard complaining.
What a sore loser!
Geez! Willis sounds like he knew he was supposed to win. He was the incumbent. He was the leader of the city. He pushed to have the primaries on the same day. He has been in charge for 13 years. It sure sounds like he doesn’t want to let go of the position even though the public have spoken. How many appeals is Willis going to seek? This sounds like Zimbabwe and Willis is Robert Mugabe. Willis and his staff screwed up and now they are trying to make up for their mistakes.
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