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Citizens must do their homework if they are going to cast meaningful votes in the primary elections, June 10th. In Greenville County alone, there will be 50 candidates on the ballot, and those only include 36 Republicans and 14 Democrats and do not include third party candidates or candidates for Congress, US Senate or Circuit Solicitors. Two years ago, there were very few challenges to incumbents, however, during this election year; there are numerous incumbents under attack.
Greenville County Republicans made history by having a candidate running for every available seat in County Council, the State House and Senate and local offices for the first time since federal troops were withdrawn from the Palmetto State more than 120 years ago.
Dissatisfaction with Congress is near an all-time high. Fourth District Congressman Bob Inglis has both Republican Primary and General Election opposition. The same is true for Senator Lindsey Graham.
In the Third Congressional District, Rep. Gresham Barrett is seeking a fourth term in the US House of Representatives. The Republican Congressman has a challenge in the General Election by Democrat Jane Dyer of Easley, a veteran of the US Air Force and currently a pilot for FedEx.
District 7 State Senator Ralph Anderson has three opponents in the Democratic Primary that will likely force him into a runoff with one of them. Should he survive that contest, he will be facing a Republican in the General Election. The demographics of the 7th district have changed from majority black to majority white since Anderson first won election to the seat. The district currently includes part of the city of Mauldin.
Sheriff Steve Loftis has opposition from both parties. He has a challenge from Republican Stephen Salter, a former Greer Policeman and Sheriff’s Deputy and currently a security officer at Greenville – Spartanburg Airport. The Democratic candidate for sheriff is Dexter L. Reeves, a former police officer and deputy sheriff, who also served as a Greenville County School District Intervention Specialist at Southside High School.
Later in the year, Greenville County School Board members will file for reelection. Terms of half of the board members expire this year. In recent years, local voters seem to have ignored problems in the state’s largest school district. Recently, however, more attention is being focused on the school board as more and more problems surface.
Since the last election, the chief full-time attorney for the school board was arrested on child pornography charges and forced to resign. More than one instance of computer security violations has occurred. More recently, it has been discovered that the school board overcharged Greenville County property owners more than $7 million in taxes in 2006 and the problem was carried over into 2007.
The County attorney, auditor, treasurer, and tax collector are currently researching the applicable laws to determine who and how the funds will be returned to the taxpayers. Several citizens have already submitted claims for refunds and are awaiting responses. The school board members who created the problem seem unconcerned about the multi-million dollar problem because it has not yet been reported in the daily paper or by the television or radio stations that get their news from the paper.
The school board election in Greenville County is currently non-partisan. That means that there is no primary or runoff election. Numerous candidates may file for a school board seat and the candidate receiving the largest number of votes is the winner, even if the top vote getter has less than 50 percent. In fact, school board members have been elected with as few as 30 percent of the vote. Generally speaking, the more candidates in a school board race, the better the chances for the incumbent to be reelected, because the opposition is divided.
The lesson for voters to remember is that it takes work and study to become an informed voter and uninformed voters elect people to public office who give us bad government. It can be said that “we get what we deserve.”
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