Richland County says no vote discrepancy as incumbent plans to challenge result in primary loss
A sitting state representative said she plans to challenge primary election results that, if certified, would cost her her State House seat.
Rep. Wendy Brawley, D-Richland, plans to challenge the results of the District 70 House election in which she ran against another sitting Richland County Democrat, Rep. Jermaine Johnson. But county election officials say there is no problem with the numbers.
Brawley and Johnson represent District 70 and District 80 in Richland County, respectively, but those districts were consolidated when the state passed new redistricting maps last year. The pair faced off for the single remaining seat Tuesday.
Richland County’s unofficial results have Johnson winning the election with just over 50% of the vote, beating Brawley by 121 ballots. Brawley received just under 48% of the total. A third candidate, Bridgette Jones Larry, received 2% of the vote.
Brawley said those results may not be accurate. She claimed the unofficial results at two county precincts differ from results posted by precinct clerks Tuesday night. She said the difference is enough to at least trigger a runoff election.
“At the point that it impacts the outcome of an election, I think I have a responsibility to the voters to speak up about it,” Brawley said Wednesday.
She said the precinct numbers for all three candidates were in conflict with the county’s final tallies. She said poll watchers for her campaign have photos proving the conflicting numbers.
Richland County elections director Alexandria Stephens said there is no discrepancy between the precinct reports and the county’s reported results. But she said there was a mix-up with result tapes posted by precinct clerks at the end of the night.
The two precincts in question are Pinewood and Pine Lakes 1, which were co-located at Lower Richland High School.
There were two tabulation machines at the polling location. At the end of the night, each machine prints out two copies of the final results. One copy goes to the elections office, and one gets taped to the door of the polling place for public viewing.
Stephens said she believes a pair of those duplicates were publicly posted Tuesday, rather than one from each machine.
“That’s what I’m gathering,” she said, adding she came to that conclusion because her office also received the duplicates from one machine, rather than one from each.
Brawley said she still plans to challenge the results and questioned the county’s explanation in a text message to The State.
“Poll clerks are required to sign and publicly post the vote tally for each candidate from each voting machine. The machine tallies that were posted and signed do not reflect the numbers the Election Commission reported for Pine Lakes 1 and Pinewood,” Brawley wrote.
She continued: “My poll watchers were in the polling place and took pictures of the signed posted tally sheets from the machines. The purpose of posting the voter machine tallies is to ensure the public has access to a verified vote tally. I’ll be at hearing (Thursday) for an explanation.”
Brawley declined to provide the photos she said her poll watchers took, saying she may need to take the challenge to court and wanted to consult with an attorney before sharing the photos. She also declined to say by how many votes the results differed, but she said it is enough to change the outcome.
Johnson received 234 votes to Brawley’s 147 at the Pinewood precinct, and 121 votes to Brawley’s 81 at Pine Lakes 1, according to the county’s unofficial results.
Brawley said she plans to challenge the results Thursday morning at the county’s provisional vote hearing, which is conducted prior to certifying election results.
“I have someone pulling the tapes to ensure there were no discrepancies,” she said.
Johnson has not responded to a request for comment.
Brawley has been a member of the state House of Representatives since 2017. Johnson joined the body in 2021.
This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 10:31 AM.
