16,272 Registered Voters—4598 Cast Ballots –

The courthouse on Edgefield Square has been a gathering place for hearing the elections returns for many years. (in the last century, in the 50s and earlier, counts were shouted out from the middle doors of the upstairs of the old Advertiser building.) On Tuesday evening, November 6, Jennifer Dorn sat at her computer laying out the “scores” as David Satcher (Voter Registration Commissioner) called the results from long tallies that told the story of who would be in leadership in the next terms of office.

Seated in the audience were many of the candidates waiting to get the results –- some were missing, already having heard the good or bad news, no doubt.

There were runners bringing the results to the courthouse. By 9:15 most of the counts had been placed in the computer by Ms. Dorn and within minutes the Voter Registration Office made available to the press and officials the unofficial count.

As noted by Satcher, the official count would be made available on Friday (Nov. 9), when the state confirmed the numbers. All these numbers have been online and available to citizens since that time.)

The Sheriff’s office was one of the few county-wide offices that was contested.  Incumbent Sheriff Adell Dobey was complimented by a large turnout of votes in his favor. One Council seat was overturned, but otherwise not much has changed for several of the county elected officials were not on the ballot; it was not their  year to run. For the convenience of the citizens, all elected officers, whether they ran this year or not, are listed below.  These are Edgefield County’s elected leadership for at least the next two years, some for four more.

County Council, District 1, Norman Dorn; District 2, Rodney Ashcraft; District 3, Dean Campbell; District 4, Betty Butler; District 5, Genia Blackwell; Clerk of Court, Shirley Newby; Auditor, Bill Gilchrist; Treasurer, Arlene Traxler; Probate Judge, Robert Peeler; School Board, District 1, William Herrin; District 2, Bridget Clark; District 3, James Bibbs; District 4, Brad Covar; District 5, Carroll Wates; District 6, Latoya Hammond; District 7, Robin Ball.

Beyond and including our county are: Solicitor Circuit 11, Donald V. Meyers; State Senate, Shane Massey; State House, Dist. 83, Bill Hixon; State House Dist. 82, William Bill Clyburn; U. S. House of Rep., District 3, Jeff Duncan; U. S. Senate, Lindsay Graham and Jim DiMint (neither were up for re-election this year).

As for the Presidency, Mitt Romney (R) won in our county (6511 to 4965) and in the state at large, but Barack Obama (D) won in the nation, at large, to fill a second term as President of the United States.

As for the amendment question, of whether to make the Lt. Gov. a running mate with the Governor (as opposed to the Lt. Gov. running separately for office), the state voted yes with the help of a yes (5264 to 4579) from this county.