Milling elected to Richland 1 school board in landslide victory on New Year’s Eve

Jonathan Milling will be the next Richland 1 school board member.

Milling had received 5,616 votes, or 60 percent of the total, with 94 of 95 precincts reporting Tuesday night, according to unofficial vote counts released Tuesday night.

More than any of the other four candidates, Milling emphasized the need to improve accountability and transparency at the school district. Milling, an attorney at the Milling Law Firm, successfully sued Richland 1 earlier this year for violating the Freedom of Information Act, according to a previous article from The State.

“This speaks to what people are seeing with Richland County and wanting change,” Milling said Tuesday night. “That’s what I have been saying my entire campaign.”

Milling’s opponents Tuesday included a former president of Allen University, a licensed professional counselor, a pastor and an educator.

Given the date of the election, officials worried voter turnout would be low. However, a surprising number of people turned out for the special election, said Terry Graham, Richland County’s interim director of elections.

“Today is a lot better than I thought it would be,” Graham said. “I thought people would be out of town or doing something else.”

Voter turnout was 7.5 percent, or 9,403 votes. The lone school board seat was the only issue on the ballot.

The election did suffer from a lack of poll workers, causing the county to consolidate precincts and spend an additional $6,000 to pay poll workers an extra $15, according to a previous article from The State.

Lines were short or nonexistent at polling places, and there were no mechanical or other issues with voting, Graham said.

Milling is expected to be sworn in Jan. 14, which is the first regularly scheduled school board meeting of 2020, Richland 1 spokeswoman Karen York said in an email. During normal elections, school board members are elected for four-year terms. However, this special election was only to fill the remaining term left by Darrell Black after he resigned in September. That means this same school board seat will be on the ballot in November 2020, Graham said in a previous interview.

With 23,386 actively enrolled students, Richland 1 is third-largest school district (behind Richland 2 and Lexington 1) in Richland and Lexington counties, according to the S.C. Department of Education. The school district manages a $323 million budget

Here is how each candidate fared:

Lady June Cole: 390 (4 percent)

Michelle Drayton: 250 (3 percent)

Jonathan Milling: 5,616 (60 percent)

Johnny Ray Noble: 1,174 (12 percent)

Ashlye Wilkerson: 1,961 (21 percent)

Write-in candidates: 6

Blank ballots: 6