Richland 2 election recount certified. Four new members chosen to troubled school board
After a full day recount, results of the Richland 2 school board election results have been certified and a full slate of new trustees has been chosen to govern Richland County’s largest school district.
A recount of the almost 128,000 ballots cast in the race confirmed that local businessman Joe Trapp narrowly defeated incumbent school board member Teresa Holmes.
Angela Nash, Niki Porter and Tamika Shuler Washington were also confirmed to have won spots on the troubled school board, which was recently the subject of a scathing inspector general’s report that described a pattern of dysfunction and petty disputes.
The results were certified Saturday morning, according to interim Richland County elections director Terry Graham.
“The totals did not change,” Graham said. “It is not going to a runoff.”
After the recount, the four winning candidates received the following share of the vote: Angela Nash (14.07%), Tamika Shuler Washington (13.32%), Niki Porter (10.35%) and Joe Trapp (9.78%).
WACH Fox reported that a recount was ordered Friday because Trapp and Holmes were within the margin of error. The recount confirmed that Trapp defeated the incumbent Holmes by just over 500 votes.
The new trustees will be walking onto a board that has been beset by in-fighting. Arguments and talking over each other at meetings became common. At one point, members of the school board underwent conflict mediation to try to resolve their differences. Public dysfunction grew to such an extent that in May Gov. Henry McMaster ordered a formal investigation into the district.
The report, which also drew attention to financial irregularities, found “non-existent communication and a lack of trust among Board members.”
It described executive sessions that “devolved into vulgar name-calling” and “were terminated without accomplishing its work.”
“Each Board member contributed to its dysfunction and ineffectiveness through petty disagreements and personal attacks of other Board members,” the report said.
This story was originally published November 12, 2022 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Richland 2 election recount certified. Four new members chosen to troubled school board."