Hundley Wins a Squeaker for SC Senate 41

With voter turnout hovring around 8 percent, it came down to who carried the precincts on Seabrook to determine the outcome of the special election for S.C. Senate 41.

As of 9 p.m., Democrat Paul Tinkler was clinging to a 99 vote lead waiting on the ballots from Seabrook to be counted. But when the last ballots finally arrived just before 10 p.m. Republican Walter Hundley had pulled ahead by 14 votes, 3,112 to 3,098, with Green Party Candidate Sue Edward in third with 53 votes, according to unofficial results compiled by the Charleston County Board of Elections and Registration.

However Hundley's 14-vote margin is less than the number of challengd ballots still outstanding (22). And Charleston County BEVR Director Joe Debney said the margin is close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

Hundley eked out a 29 vote edge in the 31 West Ashley precincts that were open Tuesday. Hundley led in 18 of the preceincts while Tinkler carried the other 13, separated in some cases by as few as four votes. Green Party Candidate Sue Edward found more than half of her votes in the West Ashley precincts (28 out of 53), however Edward was not able to pull in more than 1 percent of the overall vote.

Overall 6,307 voters cast ballots, out of 75,149 who were eligible to participate in the election.