Early voting begins for 3 Charleston run-off elections

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Early voters in the Charleston area are heading back to the polls Wednesday to vote in three runoff elections.

There will only be one location for voters to cast an early ballot ahead of the Nov. 21 runoff election, and that is at the Charleston County Board of Elections in North Charleston off Corporate Road.

The three runoff races include Charleston Mayor, Charleston City Council District 9, and Folly Beach City Council.

Incumbent Mayor John Tecklenburg will see challenger William Cogswell in the runoff. In the initial election, Cogswell had 36% of the votes while Tecklenburg was right behind with 32%. This could be an especially close race as many of the votes spread throughout six candidates will now be focused on these final two.

There’s also the Charleston City Council District 9 race; voters will choose either William Tinkler or Mike Gastin.

Over on Folly Beach – Billy Grooms and Ann Peet are in a tight race for the final seat on the city council. Each candidate had between 14% and 13% of votes in the first election.

News 2 heard from the marketing and communications coordinator for the Charleston Board of Elections, Matt Dillane, who says these run-off elections could see higher voter turnout than before.

“So if you are within the municipalities of Charleston or Folly Beach you can vote in these runoff elections, you did not need to have voted in the first round of voting. If you’re within those municipalities you are welcome to come out and vote for the runoff. In some cases, we actually see runoffs with higher turnouts; we had that earlier in the year with the (SC Sen. District 42) primary,” said Dillane.

Early voting starts at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, it closes at 5 p.m. each evening. Voters have only three days to cast an early ballot. The runoff elections will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 21.