Recount likely in Rock Hill-area SC Senate race. GOP challenger leads incumbent by 0.06%
A recount seems assured in the race for South Carolina state senate seat District 17 , where just .06% of the vote separates the two candidates.
And a winner may not be known for more than a week.
Of 55,850 ballots counted so far, Republican challenger Everett Stubbs has 49.98%, while Democratic incumbent Mike Fanning has 49.92%, S.C. Election Commission totals show. The difference stands at just 32 votes — Stubbs has 27,914, and Fanning has 27,884.
State law requires a recount if the difference is 1% or less after election results are certified by county election boards on Friday when provisional ballots will be counted, state and local elections officials said.
The District 17 race looks like it will qualify for a mandatory recount on Nov. 14, said John Michael Catalano, spokesman for the State Election Commission. That recount is required unless the candidate who is behind after certification Friday waives a recount, Catalano said.
District 17 covers much of the southern half of York County into Rock Hill and York, plus all of Chester and Fairfield counties and part of Lancaster County. Provisional ballots will be counted Friday by the four county election boards before a recount is triggered, elections officials said.
Stubbs told The Herald Wednesday he is confident — yet welcomes the counting of provisional ballots and a recount to make sure every vote is counted. He called the difference a "razor-thin margin."
"As much as I want to be a winner, I want our system to work," Stubbs said. "I trust our system."
Stubbs is a lawyer making his first run for office.
Fanning, executive director of the Olde English Consortium, won the seat in 2016 and 2020. State senators serve four-year terms.
On his Facebook campaign page , Fanning wrote, "Due to the margin of the race as it currently stands, we believe there will be a recount."
Efforts to reach Fanning Wednesday by phone and email were unsuccessful.
The process toward recount
More than 1,200 provisional ballots have to be counted Friday by the four county election boards before a recount is triggered, county elections officials told The Herald Wednesday. Each South Carolina county has an election board appointed by the governor.
A provisional ballot is issued to a voter if there were questions at the ballot box such as someone not having proper identification, or not voting in the precinct to match a registered voter's address, officials said.
York County has 579 provisional ballots to be counted, elections office spokesperson Alison Mallard told The Herald Wednesday.
Lancaster has 617 provisional ballots, said Mary Ann Hudson, elections director.
Chester has three provisional ballots and Fairfield has 22, elections directors in those counties said Wednesday.
It is unclear how many of those 1,200-plus provisional ballots from the four counties include the District 17 race. That won't be known until Friday when the provisional ballots are counted, elections officials said.
