The dust from the State Supreme Court’s upending of the 2012 primary/general election season began to settle Tuesday evening when Randall “Chump” Hanvey won the Democratic Party’s nomination for Union County Council District 5.
Unofficial results show that Hanvey, who is seeking a third term on council council, won Tuesday’s Democratic primary with 144 votes or 52.24 percent to former Union County School Board member John Rampey’s 124 votes or 45.76 percent. Hanvey carried the Ward 2, Ward 4 Box 2, Monarch Box 2, Ward 3 and Excelsior precincts. Rampey carried the Ward 1 Box 1, Monarch Box 1, Ward 4 Box 1, and Ward 1 Box 2 precincts and received a majority of the absentee ballots cast.
“I want to thank Mr. Rampey for running such a clean race,” Hanvey said shortly after the final tally was announced Tuesday evening. “We both ran our own race and didn’t try to condemn the other.
No Republican is running in District 5 and so Hanvey will be unopposed for the District 5 seat in the November general election.
“I’m glad to serve for four more years,” Hanvey said. “I’ve been here all my life and I want nothing but good things for this county.”
In campaigning for the Democratic nomination, Hanvey pointed to the accomplishments of his eight years in office including the construction of the Timken Sports complex and the recruitment of new industry such as ESAB and the Belk distribution center and the expansion of Gestamp.
The District 5 race was one of only two remaining on the ballot in Union County following a State Supreme Court decision that candidates must provide their parties with a paper copy of their statement of economic interest along with an electronic copy. As a result of the court’s decision 10 of the 17 candidates running in Tuesday’s primary and/or the November general election in Union County were removed from the ballot by the Democratic and Republican parties. Of the seven that remained on the ballot, six were incumbents, among them Hanvey. The only non-incumbent that remained was Rampey whose continued presence on the ballot mandated Tuesday’s primary contest with Hanvey.
In addition to reducing the number of candidates, the court’s decision also reduced the number of precincts taking part in Tuesday’s primary. Eleven of the county’s 23 precincts were closed and of those that were open, only nine participated in the Democratic primary in District 5.
The court’s decision also reduced the number of voters that could cast ballots, even in the precincts that were open. Only in Ward 2 were all the voters eligible to vote in the Democratic primary. In the other eight precincts the number of voters that could take part in the primary was limited, ranging from 77 in Ward 4 Box 1 to 344 in Ward 4 Box 2.
Of the 17,277 registered voters in Union County, only 398 or 2.30 percent took part in Tuesday’s primary.
SC Senate District 18
The only other race on the ballot in Union County on Tuesday was for the Republican nomination for SC Senate District 18.
Unofficial results show that Buddy Cromer carried the Union County portion of District 18 with 87 votes or 72.50 percent to 19 votes or 15.83 percent for Rich Bohlen, seven votes or 5.83 percent for Alan Hunter, and seven votes or 5.83 percent for Kara Gormley Meador. Cromer carried the Monarch Box 2, Carlisle, Black Rock, Monarch Box 1, Santuc and Excelsior precincts and received all the absentee ballots cast.
All voters in the Black Rock, Carlisle, Santuc, Monarch Box 2 and Excelsior precincts were eligible to vote in the Republican primary, but only 103 were eligible to do so in Monarch Box 1.
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