By VICKI BROWN
The Colleton County Board of Elections met on June 8 to swear in new board members.
Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill led the swearing in ceremony for Maryann Blake and Mack Thomas, who are newly elected to serve on the Board of Elections.
Blake is an attorney in Colleton County and Thomas is a businessman in the City of Walterboro.
In other Board of Elections news:
• The board also voted to attend the upcoming South Carolina Association of Registration and Election (SCARE) Conference in September. The purpose of SCARE is to provide a forum for registration and election officials to study, discuss and recommend improvements in registration/election laws; to exchange ideas and experiences; to promote and encourage education for officials; to distribute information about registration/election laws; and to promote legislation which will endorse the efficiency of the registration and election process in South Carolina.
• A request was also made to the board to move the polling location in Williams, S.C. Previously, it was held at Evergreen Church in Williams, but the poll watcher there has retired and asked to be relieved of the responsibility. The church requires a poll watcher to be a member of the church to hold voting there. With no one to take on the responsibility, the voting machines will be moved to Marion Baptist Church whose members have graciously offered to house polling booths. A legislative delegation must approve the move first, however.
• According to Angela Upchurch, director for the Colleton County Board of Elections, Congressional lines may be moving due to the Census statistics in the county as the population has moved, increased and decreased in various districts. District lines will analyzed by the S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office to compare lines from the last census held ten years ago. The statistics will be studied and district lines ironed out in subsequent months. Those lines might make a difference in some polls in November.
• The Town of Edisto, City of Walterboro, Town of Lodge, Town of Smoaks, and Town of Cottageville will be holding elections this fall in November. Filing starts in August.
