Election

More News | Ga. Elections | Ga. Gov. | Ga. Local | SC Elections | SC Gov.

Lawsuit over S.C. candidates' filing deadline is resolved

Two GOP nominees had sent disclosures to their party

  • Follow Elections

COLUMBIA --- A lawsuit has been resolved over an attempt to keep two Republican South Carolina nominees off the Nov. 2 general election ballot for failing to meet a filing deadline, an attorney for the woman who filed the lawsuit said Monday.

The lawsuit was resolved just two days before a judge was set to hear arguments.

Candidates for statewide office in South Carolina are required to file their statements of economic interest electronically with the State Ethics Commission by April 15.

The disclosures show who is paying officeholders and candidates and other details about their finances. They can help voters and the public form opinions about financial relationships.

In June, a woman filed a lawsuit saying Republican attorney general nominee Alan Wilson and GOP adjutant general nominee Bob Livingston should not be allowed on the ballot because they had missed that deadline, according to filing information then available online.

But Jonathan Holder, an attorney who represents Nancy Seufert, a volunteer secretary for the Dorchester County Democratic Party, said Monday that the lawsuit had been resolved. He said his client received a sworn statement from the Ethics Commission's executive director explaining that paper copies of the economic interest statements had been filed on time with the state Republican Party, which then forwarded the information to the Ethics Commission.

After the filing deadline had passed with neither Wilson's nor Livingston's disclosures appearing online, executive director Herb Hayden said Seufert and others might have assumed that the candidates had failed to comply with election law.

"Some people were making the assumption that they couldn't be on the ballot because they didn't file at the time," Hayden said. "Once they provided us written documentation of the paper filing, we went in administratively and filed an amended form to reflect that they filed the paper copy."

State law says any candidate whose name appears on the party primary ballot without the disclosure being filed can't subsequently be certified by the party as a winner.

Now on the State Ethics Commission's Web site, both Wilson and Livingston show two dates for filing their economic interest forms. The earlier date reflects when they filed the paperwork with the state party, while the later date shows when the candidates filed their information with the Ethics Commission online, Hayden said.

Wilson won his primary campaign and faces Democrat Matthew Richardson in the general election.

Unopposed in the primary, Livingston also has no Democratic opposition to become the commander of the state's National Guard.

Comments (2)

Add comment
ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and comments do not reflect the views this site. Posts and comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.
Dixieman
39
Points
Dixieman 07/27/10 - 06:35 am
0
0

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllll

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllvin!!

crackerjack
0
Points
crackerjack 07/27/10 - 07:23 pm
0
0

I'll bet Nancy Seufart, a

I'll bet Nancy Seufart, a volunteer secretary for the Dorchester County Democratic Party, is upset! She'll have to figure out another way to keep the Dems in Office

Back to Top
Top headlines

SC lawmaker faces DUI charge

COLUMBIA - A South Carolina state representative running for the state's newly created 7th Congressional District seat is facing weapons and drunken driving charges.
Online Database by Caspio
Click here to load this Caspio Online Database.

Please Note: You may have disabled JavaScript and/or CSS. Although this news content will be accessible, certain functionality is unavailable.

Skip to News

« back

next »

  • title http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1503/ http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1502/ http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1501/
  • title http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1498/ http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1483/ http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1487/
  • title http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1497/ http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1495/ http://spotted.augusta.com/galleries/1494/
Lady A at the JBA - Wednesday
Loading...