It's Official: Tommie Reece Petition Certified

Tommie Reece, who was kicked off the ballot in the eleventh hour of the Republican primary race for the District 6 seat in the South Carolina Senate, saw her candidacy resurrected Tuesday when the S.C. Election Commission certified her petition signatures - placing her on the November ballot in the general election. 

Reece, who sits on the Greenville County School Board, was once on the ballot in the GOP primary race for the Senate 6 seat currently held by incumbent Mike Fair, but was  just three days before the June 12 primary because she hadn't filed her statement of economic interest form at the exact same time she declared her candidacy.

Her campaign announced weeks ago it believed it had collected enough signatures to get Reece back on the ballot in November, but it became official Tuesday. In a release sent to her supporters, Reece said she'd been contacted by the election commission notifying her of the certification of her petition signatures. In the message, she stated she was hesitant to make a formal public announcement until she had a letter in hand confirming what she'd been told verbally, but the South Carolina Election Commission officially announced it Tuesday by putting it on their web site, where it calls Reece's petitions "certified" and "valid." 

Reece's campaign says some 3,600 signatures were collected, with 3,325 being deemed valid, dwarfing the 2,949 necessary. That number also carries added significance given the GOP primary held in June, which saw Fair receive a total of 3,286 votes, meaning Reece's petition drive - which are generally considered long shots - actually garnered more signatures than Fair got votes.