Who wins election in Midlands town where nobody ran?
One Midlands town is still unsure who will take two seats on its town council after Tuesday’s local elections because no candidates filed to run.
Instead, voters in Gilbert cast 70 write-in votes for who will represent them for the next four years, unofficial results show.
Write-in votes for local offices aren’t unusual in the town of less than 600 people, one of the smallest municipalities in Lexington County. But the town has faced waves of new housing construction along Augusta Highway moving west out of Lexington, potentially bringing more residents into the area and changing its once rural pace of life — and voting.
Election officials in Lexington County are working to identify who the winning candidates are and whether they will be eligible and willing to serve on the town council.
“We have identified the write in potential candidates and we have reached out to them to see if they will accept the role of the council position,” Election Director Lenice Shoemaker said in a statement to The State. “We must evaluate any provisional ballots that may be presented to see if there is an impact on the results.”
Because Gilbert has a “majority rule” provision in its town election ordinance, any winning candidate would need to win more than 50% of the total vote to take their seat. Otherwise, the county election commission would need to organize a runoff for the council seats among any eligible candidates from the first round. The commission will meet to certify all the county’s election results on Thursday.
Mayor John Reeder did win re-election after securing 75% of the vote in a race where he ran unopposed — with another quarter of the votes in the mayor’s race also going to write-in candidates.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 1:03 PM.
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