Charleston County Board of Elections to confirm runoff races Thursday morning

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Charleston County Board of Elections will soon determine which local races will go to a runoff.

All eyes are on the City of Charleston’s mayoral race where incumbent John Tecklenburg is expected to face off against challenger William Cogswell. Election officials said that the runoff would be confirmed during a meeting held Thursday.

And the Charleston mayoral race isn’t the only one that could see a run-off election.

Folly Beach City Council remains a tight race between Billy Grooms and Ann Peets, who may enter a matchup in two weeks. Votes for two other candidates, Katherine Houghton and Chris Bizzell, will be confirmed on Thursday afternoon.

Then there’s the Seabrook Town Council race, which is quite literally neck-and-neck between Dan Kortvelesy and Paul Mclaughlin, right now, they each have 626 votes.

Lastly, there’s the council race on the Isle of Palms. At least four candidates could still possibly be voted in, they are all polling around 11% and 12%.

Runoffs mean candidates will go back to work, possibly knocking on doors and speaking with voters ahead of the runoff election which will be held Nov. 21.

Charleston County Board of Elections Director Isaac Cramer says although this process could be seen as tedious, these races in an “off-election year” could affect you the most.

“Local elections matter for all of us because they affect our day-to-day life, and they are the elections with the lowest turnout, and every vote does matter, we have a lot of elections, locally, that are determined by a handful of votes,” said Cramer.

Thursday’s meeting begins at 9 a.m. Those decisions should be made by the Board of Elections after their meeting is over.