In a county where close races are the norm, Tuesday’s narrow decision to move to a multi-member board of commissioners was no exception. At press time, the unofficial result was Pickens County will move to a three-person board of commissioners when the current sole commissioner’s term expires.
A slight discrepancy with the paper absentee ballots forced election staff to recount about 240 paper ballots, but with all precincts reporting, there had been 4,378 votes in favor of moving to a multi-member board with 4,252 in favor of staying with a sole commissioners. There were 240 paper absentee ballot sent in by mail. With the first count, the vote was divided almost equally with two more votes in favor of the sole commissioner. However there was a one-vote discrepancy in that tally forcing the staff to perform a recount of the paper ballots and delaying the final results until after press time…
There was a brisk debate about a multi-person commission. Retaining a Sole Commissioner was favored by most of the politicos, including the current Commissioner. The local State Representatives weighed in and there were many meetings about the controversy, including the local Tea Party. So on the ballot, it was Sole versus Multi-Commissioner – yes/no. Then it was: if we have a multi-commission, will it be three/five members [the main point being cost].
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.