Atlantic Beach hits another roadblock in election certification
ATLANTIC BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Atlantic Beach saw another setback in its election certification Wednesday afternoon.
A meeting to certify November election results between John David and Josephine Isom was postponed for a second time.
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“Atlantic Beach is on a very slippery slope,” said longtime resident John Sketers.
Election Commission chairman Kenneth McIver said he was surprised when his fellow commissioners, Carolyn Gore, and Derrick Stevens, voted to postpone the meeting.
“This is very frustrating to me,” said McIver. “I did not get prior notice from the town’s attorney for that.”
Gore and Stevens claim mayoral candidate David had a document they said was under attorney-client privilege. David said the document was a sample motion provided to the election commission and a second protest letter by his opponent. He added he requested the document and the town manager gave it to him.
“If that was a protest letter, that document also should have been conveyed to me because I’m in the protest contest,” said David. “That’s why the town manager gave it to me.”
McIver also claims the town’s attorney and his fellow commissioners want to hold Isom’s protest hearing before certifying election results, which he said is prohibited.
“I asked the attorney, presented my case for the sequencing, the correct sequencing of events, and the other commissioners did not see it my way and they voted against me,” he explained.
Gore and Stevens, declined to comment.
“Four months this has been delayed and for what purpose?” said David. “First of all, (Gore and Stevens) didn’t come to the meeting last week, this week it seems like they have an orchestrated plan to not count the votes. Again, what’s happening next week?”
Longtime Atlantic Beach resident John Sketers said the situation is very concerning to him.
“We can’t agree enough with each other for our own best interest,” said Sketers. “I hope I don’t ever have to come back here and say, ‘That used to be Atlantic Beach’. That could easily happen, the way it’s going now.”
Stevens made a motion to postpone the meeting to April 3.
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