Clinton council runoff today; new faces in several councils

Clinton voters in District 3 are heading to the polls today for the runoff election between Seat 3 Incumbent Robbie Neal and challenger Natalie Cogsdill. Voter precincts which include District 3 voters are combined at First Pentecostal Holiness Church, 403 Academy Street, Clinton.

The Advertiser will post results from the runoff online Tuesday evening.

It was the only write in required from the municipal elections across the county two weeks ago, which resulted in several new town and city council members across the county, and from contested races in Clinton and Laurens.

Voter turnout was very low across the entire county, said Lynne West, Director of Voter Registration and Elections for Laurens County.

The runoff was required because neither candidate won 51 percent of the votes, though it was very close. Neal had 21 votes, versus newcomer Natalie Cogsdill who finished with 38 votes. Candidate Diane Vaughn finished with 16 votes.

The Advertiser will post runoff results online Tuesday evening.

“A candidate must have in-excess of 50 % of the votes or there’s an automatic runoff between the top two vote getters,” West said.

Other contested Clinton seats include District 1 incumbent Danny Cook who held his seat with 109 votes against 17 votes for Sonya Adams.

Clinton District 5 incumbent Ronnie Roth lost his seat to newcomer Danny Smith. Roth had 42 votes, which wasn’t enough against Smith’s 58 votes.

For Laurens City Council, no one had filed for the Seat 2 which had been held by Alicia Sullivan, but a write in campaign by Sullivan allowed her to hold onto her seat against another write in contender, Melinda Gray. Sullivan held onto the seat with 43 write in votes to 21 write in votes for Melinda Gray.

The other contested seat in Laurens was between Incumbent Sara Latimore for her District 4 seat, which she lost Tuesday to newcomer Calvin Whitmire. Latimore had 15 votes to Whitmire’s 58.

Marion Miller was uncontested and held her Laurens Seat 1.

Laurens Commission of Public Works Commissioner C. Parker Moore was uncontested and held onto his Commission of Public Works seat.

In the towns of Cross Hill, Gray Court and Waterloo, all seats were either uncontested. 

Cross Hill Town Council now includes Mayor Danny Stroud and council members Connie Jester, Beverly Jones, Rita Faye Neal and Brandon D. Simpson. David L. Coleman had recently requested removal from the ballot.

In Gray Court, Millie Dawkins was uncontested and won that open seat. And while no one had filed for the second open seat, Brittany Hames gained 24 write in votes and won the second seat. 

In Waterloo, Mayor Barbara A. Smith held her seat, as did council members Mary Jones and Curtis Jerome Todd.