Voters set to return to polls for GOP primary runoffs

By John Clayton | June 16, 2026 |

Laurens County voters have a quick turnaround for runoff elections following the June 9 Republican and Democratic Primary elections.

The run-offs, which involve one GOP nomination for Laurens County Council and several statewide seats including governor and attorney general, are set for Tuesday, June 23. Early voting will be held today (Wednesday) and Thursday of this week and limited to just two days due to the Juneteenth holiday on Friday. Early voting is held at the Board of Voter Registration and Elections offices on Bolt Drive in Laurens.

All the runoffs are for Republican nominations for November’s mid-term election.

Jimmy Poole and Lonnie Wilson are in a run-off for the District 4 seat on Laurens County Council.

Poole was the top vote-getter on June 9 with 879 votes (48%), and Wilson finished with 752 votes (41%). Libby Pinson was last in the three-way race with 197 votes (11%). The winner will fill the seat currently occupied by Councilman Brown Patterson.

Eighth Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo of Greenwood is in a run-off for the GOP nomination for attorney general with Stephen Goldfinch. Goldfinch led a three-candidate field with 41% of the vote. Stumbo captured 35% of the vote.

Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and current Attorney General Alan Wilson emerged from a five-candidate field and will be in a run-off for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. State Rep. Jermaine Johnson was avoided a run-off for the Democratic nomination with 58% of the vote and will face either Evette or Wilson in November in an effort to become South Carolina’s first African American governor and first Democrat in the governor’s mansion since Jim Hodges from 1999-2003.

Even though Democrats have no statewide runoffs, anyone who voted in the June 9 Democratic primary cannot vote in the GOP runoffs. State law prohibits crossover voting between party primaries and runoffs.

Registered voters who didn’t vote at all in the primary can vote in either party’s runoff.

Absentee voters must return ballots by mail or in person to county elections offices before polls close at 7 p.m. June 23.

Because of the short time frame between the primary and runoff, the state does not have time to reprint ballots. Instead, election officials mark out any candidates who did not make the runoff, as well as offices for which there is no runoff. Election officials will not count any votes cast for candidates that are marked through, according to the Election Commission.

Overseas and military voters already turned in a second ballot, on which they ranked candidates in case of a runoff.

Vying for the GOP nomination to be the state’s next agriculture commissioner are Dany Ford II, an Upstate cattle rancher and son of legendary Clemson University football coach Danny Ford, and Cody Simpson, former agricultural adviser to Gov. Henry McMaster and Trump administration appointee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency.

Only 25% of the state’s 3.4 million registered voters turned out for the Uune 9 primary. Voter turnout in Laurens County for the primary was 26.3%, or 10,794 ballots cast out of 41,054 registered voters.

– Reporting from the SC Daily Gazette contributed to this story.