http://66.225.205.104/JR20100615c.mp3
The South Carolina Democratic Party will decide this week whether or not to uphold the surprising results of its U.S. Senate Primary election. An unknown man with no organized campaign upset a party insider in that election. Charleston county politician Vic Rawl believes something fishy happened in last week's primary, which he lost to an unemployed man named Alvin Greene. Rawl has filed a protest to the election with the South Carolina Democratic Party, but it turns out the state's election laws don't say much about what could happen next. "The law doesn't address what their options are as far as what decisions they can make as the result of a protest," says SC Election Commssion spokesman Chris Whitmire. "It also doesn't address what the candidates can do as far as appealing that decision." Whitmire says protests are common in general elections and those are handled by the state election commission. But primary elections are different because they're the responsibility of the political party. The Election Commission merely runs the election and certifies the results are accurate, which it did last week for the senate race now under scrutiny. Furthermore, Whitmire says it's unclear what the commission would be expected to do if the Democratic Party overturns the senate primary race: "Our staff here doesn't recall another statewide primary protest and we don't recall one that's been overturned," says Whitmire. Without a legal precedent, Whitmire says there are numerous questions that will have to be addressed. That would likely mean the involvement of the state attorney general. Whitmire says holding another statewide primary election in the senate race would cost tax payers at least $2 million. Meanwhile, the state Election Commission is preparing for a heated Republican run-off in the governor's race next Tuesday and trying to assure voters that regardless of what happened in the senate race, the state's electronic voting system is reliable. Whitmire says contrary to claims made by the Vic Rawl campaign, the state's Ivotronic machines were purchased new in 2004. "There are reports out there that we purchased them secondhand from Louisiana, which is untrue," says Whitmire. "We've used (these machines) in thousands of elections for thousands of candidates and it's always performed accurately and reliably and consistently."