The Sumter County Board of Elections met on November 12 in order to certify the election. Sumter County elections supervisor LaSandra Patterson addressed the Board. “For the outstanding ballots, we have six provisionals, one from early voting, five from election night.”

Patterson also stated that the only qualified write-in candidate for Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor was Jeffrey Clements.

Chair Dr. Shirley Latimore made a motion to except the outstanding provisional ballots. Randy Howard made a motion to approve them, seconded by Dr. Valerie Roberts, passing unanimously.

Latimore also gave an unofficial and incomplete election summary report. “We had 12,167 that voted out of 17,540, 69.37%.”

Latimore listed the candidates for President: Donald J. Trump, Kamala D. Harris, Chase Oliver, Jill Stein, Claudia De la Cruz, and Cornel West. She noted that all write-ins received a zero.

She gave the votes for United States Representatives District 2 with A. Wayne Johnson, 5,440, Sanford Bishop, 6,559.

Votes for State House of Representatives District 150 were Cary Moore, 2,570, Patty Marie Stinson, 2,559. For Tax Commissioner, Leah Watson received 6,456 votes, and Mireo J. Harris received 5,284 votes.

For Coroner, Bobby Hancock-Harris received 5931 votes, and Darrell D. Sabbs Jr. received 5,878. For County Commissioner of District 3, Commissioner James C. “Jim” Reid Jr. received 1,714 votes, and Ethan Wolfe received 999.

For the proposed Constitutional Amendment 1, there were 6170 yes votes, and 5,055 no votes. For proposed Constitutional Amendment 2, there were 5,005 yes votes, and 6,171 no votes. For the State Wide Referendum, Question A, there were 5,655 yes votes, and 5,804 no votes.

Latimore addressed Patterson, referencing the Board’s desire to go over the provisional ballots. “You’ve made your recommendation, but apparently they want to take a look, instead of looking at what you have done.”

Latimore stated Patterson’s job. “What she was supposed to do is to determine whether the person casting the provisional ballot was entitled to vote.” Latimore mentioned she had to do a review of voter registration documentation.

Patterson broke down each provisional ballot. “One was a voter who believed that they registered in a timely manner.” Patterson stated she determined that they did.

Patterson noted four voters voted in the wrong precinct. Dr. Valerie Roberts questioned Patterson, who affirmed she checked the voter’s eligibility. Latimore noted that while each of those voters went to the wrong location, they were given the correct ballot for their district. Latimore later amended her statement, stating; “The voter may not be able to vote for a particular race if they are not at their precinct.”

Patterson noted that another voter did not provide proof of citizenship. “She came and did a affidavit. We have an affidavit where she showed that she did do an address change and a name change.” Randy Howard asked if she was a registered voter, to which Patterson assented.

Latimore entertained a motion to certify the election. Howard made a motion, seconded by Roberts, which passed unanimously.

The Board then addressed a request for a recount for the Coroner race. County attorney Hayden Hooks commented on the margin of votes. “That’s within the 0.5% that 21 2-495 C1 allows for a recount, and so, then the board needs to recount those races, in accordance with the Secretary of State’s procedure.”

Hooks commented further. “You voted to certify, and she’ll submit these numbers that we’ve announced today to the Secretary of State.”

Latimore added that they would let the Secretary of State know of the results of the recount afterward, and they would notify the Secretary of State that a recount was planned.

Carson Walker commented during Board Members Remarks. “On this voter review panel, I think he had really good Democratic and Republican representation.” However, Walker did note that write-ins by voters had caused issues. “It took us about an hour to do, to look over fictitious write-in candidates.” He told how many had been up since six, and they were up till 11 pm while the review board looked the votes over. Walker made a statement on the fictitious write-ins; “I think voting is a lot more serious than that, and I just wanted to make that statement.”

Latimore commented. “They have a choice to put down whatever name they want to put down, and we’re not going to tell people what to put.” She told how they were just there to follow the process.