LAKE WYLIE —
Locally, the June 8 primary elections feature far fewer contests than in many election years. Yet one decision will be settled, and three candidates hoping to to advance one step closer to November’s general election plan to make their cases to voters.
The Greater Clover Chamber of Commerce and York County Republican Party host a town hall forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. June 1 at the Clover School District Administration Building, 604 Bethel St., Clover. Scheduled to speak are the three Republican candidates for S.C. House District 47, a seat held by Democrat Rep. Herb Kirsh.
The June 8 winner from among those three candidates – Brett Boyd, Tommy Pope and Vance Stine – will face Kirsh in the general election Nov. 2. The June 1 forum is free, and will include opening and closing candidate remarks and questions from the audience.
“Come and learn the distinctions between candidates,” said Glenn McCall, chairman of the York County Republican Party.
Local races apart from District 47 are mostly on hold until November. Lake Wylie’s York County Council seat, District 2, lists only Republican Bruce Henderson as a candidate. He will run unopposed unless a petition candidate emerges; the petition deadline is July 15.
The race for State House District 48, which represents portions of Lake Wylie not covered by District 47, has two candidates, Republican Ralph Norman and Libertarian Stan Smith, but that race will be decided in November. The U.S. House seat held by Rep. John Spratt and challenged by Mick Mulvaney features one Republican and one Democrat, so that decision comes in November, too. School board seats, which will appear on the November ballot, don’t have filing until August.
“It’s going to be interesting to see if that House 47 race draws out voters by itself, because it’s really the only race we have in that area, local,” said Wanda Hemphill, director of York County Registration and Elections.
Of interest to Hemphill this election season is not only how many voters turn out, but whether they make it to the correct polls. Lake Wylie precincts were split since the last election cycle, adding several new ones.
“We added 16 overall in the county,” Hemphill said. “We created three new precincts (in Lake Wylie).”
Former locations Allison Creek (Allison Creek Presbyterian Church), Bethel No. 1 (Bethel Fire Department), Bethel No. 2 (River Hills Community Church), Bethel School (Bethel Elementary School) and Lakeshore (Lake Wylie Christian Assembly) remain, but some of those voters may be shifted to one of three new locations – Mill Creek (Oakridge Middle School), Pole Branch (All Saints Catholic Church) and Wylie (Scherer Memorial Presbyterian Church).
Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce president Susan Bromfield said many voters, particularly in areas where one side of the road may be represented by one state House district but not the other, may be confused for the primary election on what races they vote in.
“They’re already confused,” she said.
Hemphill said registered voters affected by the new precincts received a new card, and precincts will have maps of all voting locations during the election. The transition was needed, she said, to keep all precincts close to 1,000 registered voters and to add “a little bit of room for growth, too.”
For more information on the District 47 forum, visit yorkcountygop.com. For more on polling locations, visit yorkcountygov.com and click “Registration and Elections” under “Departments.”