Horry County Council to ask state to open inquiry into GOP absentee ballot error

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) – Horry County leaders want the state to investigate an absentee ballot error that occurred during the June runoff elections.

It was discovered that 1,337 Democrat absentee ballots were sent to Republican voters prior to the June 28 runoff.

The Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Elections cited errors in the printing and mailing process via a third party as to why this happened. That third party, Sun Solutions, is still investigating what went wrong.

During the public input session during Tuesday night’s county council meeting, three people, including the chairman of the Horry County GOP Roger Slagle, called on the council to open an election integrity investigation.

“There were significant errors in the runoff election June 28, 2022 in Horry County,” said Slagle. “Specifically, the error Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Election which mailed 1377 Democratic party ballots to voters who requested ballots of Republican party candidates.”

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Horry County Chairman Johnny Gardner and Councilman Al Allen suggested that the council submit an official inquiry to the South Carolina Election Commission and the State Law Enforcement Division to look into the matter.

Allen said he would like the agencies to get answers to several questions including:

Why was Horry County the only county to get the wrong ballots?
Who at the publishing company was responsible?
Does the company have any connections with any organizations in Horry County?

Gardner tasked the Horry County Administration Committee with writing up a resolution calling for the official inquiry into the absentee ballots, then it will be brought to the full council for a vote.

“We’re going to sit down,” said Gardner. “We’re going to hammer out a resolution. You’re going to come up with your questions. We’re going to send it back to council for approval. You’re invited to that too and then we’re going to mail it off to general council with a letter asking that all this stuff be done.”

The administration committee is set to meet on Aug. 22.

“I think it’s fair for all of us as voters in this county and this country and this state to ask those questions and that’s what we’re doing,” said Slagle.

There are other voting issues that the Horry County GOP would like to address including making electronic voting equipment illegal in the state of South Carolina. These issues were not addressed during Tuesday night’s meeting.

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