Slim Pickings for Voters on Local Ballots

Update: This story has been updated to include information about the S.C. House District 114 race that was inadvertantly left out of the original version.

Many of the races West Ashley residents will vote on in November will essentially be foregone conclusions now that the ballots have been set in most cases.

Depending on whether the Charleston County and Dorchester County Republican Parties are allowed to hold a special primary to field a new candidate for the S.C. Senate District 41 race, there may only be three contested local races on the ballot.

's eligibility to run for that office, but Kinard also said that the Republicans could hold a new primary to find a candidate for that race. And according to Kinard's ruling Thurmond can file to run in that primary.

Republican leaders were trying to figure out exactly how that primary would work last week, but have yet to announce a plan. Meanwhile the Charleston Post and Courier reports that the S.C. State Election Commission is appealing the portion of Kinard's ruling that allows for a new primary.

If the Republicans are not able to field a new candidate for that race.

Voters will also get a choice between two conservatives for the S.C. House 114 seat, currently held by Rep. Bobby Harrell, who is also the Speaker of the House. Harrell's opponent is John Steinberger, who got on the ballot as a petition canidate.

There will be a contested race for the Charleston County Council District 6 seat though. Incumbent Vic Rawl (Democrat) will face challenger Carolyn Hughes. Hughes was one of more than 200 candidates removed from the ballot by the S.C. Supreme Court decisions earlier this year, but she was able to collect enough valid signatures to earn a spot on the ballot as a petition candidate.

The race for Charleston County Auditor will also be one of the few local contested races. , and Mosely's challenge to Gawrych's eligibility failed, leaving him on the ballot. On the Democratic side of the ticket Peter Tecklenberg walked away with the nomination when other candidates were swept off the ballot by those earlier Supreme Court decisions.

The only other contested local races will be for the two open seats on the Charleston County School Board for the West Ashley area. Five candidates — John W. Barter, III, Henry Copeland, Michael Miller, Jim Ramich and Brian P. Thomas — will be on the ballot for those seats, and the two that get the highest number of votes will win the seats. The School Board races are nonpartisan.

Additionally only one candidate, Chris Fraser, will appear in the School Board race to finish the unexpired term left when Mary Ann Taylor resigned her seat on the Board last November.

Other local races with only a single candidate include Charleston County Council District 7 - Colleen Condon; Charleston County Sheriff - Al Cannon; Charleston County Clerk of Court - Julie J. Armstrong; Charleston County Coroner - Rae Wooten; Charleston County Treasurer - Andrew C. Smith; Charleston County Soil and Water District Commission - M. F. Mickey Floyd;  and St. Andrews Public Service District - Christopher W. Perot.