Low Turnout Made Every Vote Count Tuesday

With county-wide voter turnout barely rising above 3 percent (3.37 percent in all) on Tuesday the one contested race on ballots in West Ashley came down to the final precincts to report their vote totals.

Paul Gawrych finished first in the race over incumbent Peggy Moseley and David Engleman. But with three candidates in the race the chances for a run-off election loomed late into election night.

As election results came in Tuesday night Moseley had a shot at a run-off with Gawrych as six precincts, including three in Mount Pleasant where turnout was generally heavier than in the rest of the county, had not reported results by 9 p.m., but by 9:45 those votes were in and Gawrych's lead held at more than 50 percent, giving him the nomination.

In the West Ashley precincts Gawrych won 15 of the 37 precincts, some by a single vote, and tied with Moseley in two others. Moseley carried 15 other precincts. Engleman did not win any precincts outright, but tied with Gawrych for the lead in one precinct, and with Moseley in another three other precincts. A three-way tie happened in St. Andrews Precinct 19 where no one cast a ballot in the race in.

Overall Gawrych tallied 4,003 votes to Moseley's 2,443 and Engleman's 1,440.

Gawrych will face Democrat Peter Tecklenburg in November.

Turnout across West Ashley remained low, with St. Andrews Precinct 6 at the Charleston Tennis Center seeing the area's highest percentage of voters at 9.49 percent with 108 voters. Turnout was lowest at St. Andrews Precinct 19 at Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School where only a single voter cast a ballot, accounting for .33 percent of the registered voters in that precinct.

The turnout percentage was actually lower at St. Andrews Precinct 9 where three voters cast ballots, accounting for only .24 percent of the registered voters in a much larger precinct.

Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration staff said the cost of running the election will likely exceed $100,000, with more than $90,000 coming just from the payment of the more than 750 poll workers involved.

With a total of 7,979 votes cast county-wide works out to a cost per vote of more than $13.