Contested Elections, Murdaugh Federal Future, Gubernatorial School Investigation- Week In Review

Its been lonely here at FITSNews HQ this week with our founding editor Will Folks soaking up the rays (and possibly grease from fried fish). Easy, ladies …

In Will’s absence we’ve pulled out all the stops to put together a great show for you. I’m most excited for you to see the special report put together by our researcher extraordinaire Jennifer Wood on the potential for federal involvement in the Murdaugh murders crime and corruption saga.

But before we debut Jenn’s special report I walk you through two other important developments: the fallout from last week’s partisan primaries and a new way for the governor to hold Palmetto State school district leaders accountable.

S.C. Attorney General candidate Lauren Martel led a “MAGA slate” protest of her partisan primary loss. Martel was soundly defeated in her bid against third-term incumbent attorney general Alan Wilson – drawing 119,247 votes (or 34.29 percent of all ballots cast). Wilson received 228,538 votes (or 65.71 percent).

Martel’s protest was centered around the failure of election workers to be administered an oath required by law. While I am in support of following all laws that legitimize our elections, I characterized Martel’s challenge as “frivolous” in this week’s episode.

I gave slightly more credence to house district 43 candidate Mark Corral, who announced late Tuesday night that he too was submitting a letter disputing the election. Unlike Martel, Corral lost by a far narrower margin of 139 votes (or 3.84 percent) to incumbent Randy Ligon.

Corral protested the relocation of precinct polling places because he alleged that one location was moved outside of an adjacent precinct in violation of S.C. Code §7-7-910.

Both Corral and Martel had to prove that their races would have turned out differently had the issues they cited not occurred, and none of the candidates who challenged their primary results were able to cross that evidentiary threshold in a hearing held before the S.C. GOP executive committee on Thursday evening.

I then moved on to the run-off election in the Republican primary between candidates Ellen Weaver and Kathy Maness for the state superintendent of education position.

We are proud to host op-eds from both candidates discussing why they are running and what they plan to do should they be elected. Click above on either candidate’s name to learn more about them. Early voting has begun for the partisan primary run-offs.

Potentially more important for the day-to-day operation of S.C. schools is how governor Henry McMaster‘s investigation into Richland School District Two proceeds in the coming weeks.

Following months of allegations of improprieties by district leadership, the governor has formally requested that S.C. state inspector general Brian Lamkin investigate the district and provide him with a report of his findings.

While the potential removal of Richland school district two trustees alone isn’t statewide news – it is certain that similarly inept school board trustees across the state are watching this investigation in an attempt to ascertain wether they will be next.

We end the episode with FITSNews researcher Jennifer Wood’s special report on RICO charges and what would need to happen for them to be applied in the Murdaugh case.

Jenn is super smart – seriously – as we report on the Murdaugh Murders we are awash in a ceaseless torrent of information and Jenn has a unique ability to take all of that noise and distill it into a usable signal, so when she pitched the idea of creating a RICO guide I was incredibly enthusiastic.

We will post the RICO guide on its own early next week- I believe that it will only become more relevant as this case moves forward.

Thank you for watching the show in Will’s absence. I’ve tried to inform and entertain you to the best of my ability. I’d love to hear how you think that I can do better next time. Shoot me your suggestions on twitter @dnolan2000 or by emailing me Dylan@fitsnews.com.

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