Machine glitch leaves Eastover voters in suspense
Who won a seat on town council? Residents hope to learn results today
By DAWN HINSHAW - dhinshaw@thestate.com   The State   01 August 2007

A closely watched town council election in Eastover ended in frustration Tuesday when electronic voting machines wouldn’t spit out the results.

The town’s election officials agreed to gather at 9 a.m. today at the Richland County Election Commission office, hoping for the tally.

“Only in Eastover,” sighed one of the three candidates, Richard Johnson, as election day stretched toward 8:30 p.m.

Johnson, Geraldene Robinson and Dedrick Edwards ran to fill a vacant seat on the five-person council at a time when municipal affairs are a mess.

The town’s last election in 2006 resulted in allegations of election fraud against the mayor and police chief.

The town’s lone policeman, Officer Elijah Fleming, watched with a group of about 15 residents as poll workers at the Eastover gym attempted to print the tally from two electronic voting machines.

“The problem lies with the password,” election commissioner Ella Suber announced to the group. “None of the information will be lost.”

Suber said a similar problem required poll workers to use paper ballots between 7 and about 8:45 a.m. Those 15 ballots, each enclosed in a sealed envelope, were opened and read aloud before the crowd went home.

But 149 people voted by machine — a good turnout.

There was just one absentee ballot cast, generating a laugh from some in the audience. Ballots cast by absentee voters are at the center of the attorney general’s election fraud case.

The candidates conducted a campaign befitting the vacation season: It was very low key, Robinson said.

A former mayor and councilwoman, Robinson expressed frustration with negative news swirling around Eastover.

“There are a lot of good people in this town,” she said.

She and Johnson, also a former council member, said the town’s leaders need to be more accessible and share more information about what’s going on at Town Hall in the absence of Mayor Chris Campbell, who has been suspended.

Voter Zenobia Clarkson took off work a little early Tuesday so she could vote, saying she wanted to make sure the town had someone “responsible and accountable” to fill the seat and help the town move on.

Reach Hinshaw at (803) 771-8641.