Election: numbers game
Last Updated on 10/13/2008
Published on 6/13/2008
Georgetown County Sheriff Lane Cribb looked at the vote numbers coming in on Tuesday night and remarked on the embarrassingly low turnout -- 16 per cent -- for the primary election. The sheriff won in a landslide over challenger Jay High in the Republican primary with 3,055 votes to 681.
Sheriff Cribb should have seen the other guys.
He got the lion's share of all votes in Georgetown County, leaving candidates in Democratic primaries with razor-thin margins and, in the case of County Council incumbents Thomas Earl Drayton and Helen Rudolph, upset losses.
Sheriff Cribb ran an effective campaign, and many registered Democrats crossed over to vote in the Republican primary to assure his re-election to a fifth term.
That caused a ripple effect in the Democratic races throughout Georgetown County.
Sen. Yancey McGill (D-Kingstree) trailed in Georgetown County until Andrews and Potato Bed Ferry precincts turned the tide in his favor. Sen. McGill won his home county, Williamsburg, by about a thousand votes and felt comfortable that he would win late Tuesday night. That was confirmed on Wednesday.
Mr. Drayton may have lost the most votes of all to the GOP sheriff's primary. In the past, he has done exceptionally well among white Democratic voters in the Sampit community. With some of those crossing over to vote in the sheriff's race, challenger Leona "Tiger" Miller was presented with an even playing field after getting some traction over a couple of seemingly minor controversies.
Mr. Drayton had found himself at odds with some members of the Sampit community within the last year. He applied to rezone some property, and 114 of his neighbors signed a petition to object. There was also a disagreement over use of the old Sampit School. Mr. Drayton wanted to see a one-stop facility similar to the Choppee Health Center. Others wanted the facility to go to the St. James-Santee Family Health Center, and they won out.
Still, it's hard to imagine that Mr. Drayton -- forever remembered for the front page photo by The Times' Tommy Howard from our successful All-America County effort in Atlanta -- will be leaving County Council.
Mrs. Rudolph likely lost some Democratic voters, too. Lillie Jean Johnson was not an inexperienced challenger. She had been on County Council before and left for family reasons. The race was a toss-up from the beginning and Mrs. Rudolph was originally undecided about running for re-election.
Conversely, Republican Austin Beard may have benefited from the cross-over effect in defeating Democrat Murray Vernon for the remainder of Sel Hemingway's term. They meet again in November.
County Council has been involved in some controversial decisions. Most were around Plantersville, but that district's seat, held by Johnny Morant, was not up for re-election. Those voters, most likely to be seeking change, didn't get to vote this year.
While there were calls to kick the incumbents out, it was more likely they fell victim to a numbers game that they couldn't control.
