Candidates elected to 5 Lexington school boards

Voters replaced two incumbents on the Lexington County School District One board with challengers Chris Shealy and Dana Homesley while granting board Secretary Chris Rice a second four-year term in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Shealy emerged as the top vote-getter in the contest for three at-large school board seats, according to unofficial totals from the South Carolina Election Commission, receiving 16,608 votes, or 17.19% of all ballots cast. Homesley received 15,004 votes (15.53%), and Rice retained his seat with 14,873 votes (15.39%).

Shelton Yonce, who was appointed to the board in June to fill an unexpired term, failed to make the cut, receiving 13,840 votes (14.32%). Crystal Baker garnered 10,599 votes (10.97%), followed by incumbent Katie McCown (10,210 votes, 10.57%) and candidates Joyce Jordan (8,441, 8.74%) and Jack Lundeen (6,650, 6.88%).

The race saw 407 miscellaneous write-in votes, accounting for 0.42% of all ballots cast.

District 2

Chairman Kevin Key and Vice Chair Linda Alford-Wooten will continue serving on the Lexington County School District Two board, joined by newcomer Marcus McGill.

Alford-Wooten earned 8,846 votes (31.38%) in the at-large race for three school board seats, with McGill receiving support from 6,685 voters (23.71%) and Key retaining his seat with 6,307 votes (22.37%).

Challenger Tommy King received 6,169 votes, or 21.88%, in the contest, which also saw 187 write-in ballots cast.

District 3

Three candidates ran unopposed for three seats on the Lexington County School District Three Board of Trustees, which oversees schools in Batesburg-Leesville.

Incumbent Cheryl A. Burgess, first elected in 2002, received 2,397 votes (38.87%), followed by Vice Chair Gariane Gunter (1,896, 30.74%) and newcomer Sharmen M. Oswald (1,810, 29.35%).

Sixty-four write-in votes, accounting for 1.04% of all ballots, were cast in the race.

District 4

Three incumbent board members will continue serving in Lexington County School District Four after facing no opposition in the general election.

Brad Frick of Gaston received 2,122 votes (36.27%) in the at-large contest, followed by Chairman Quincy Sutton of Swansea (1,875 votes, 32.05%) and Cornelius Jeffcoat of Gaston (1,811 votes, 30.95%).

Voters also cast 43 miscellaneous write-in ballots.

District 5

Two newcomers will join the School District Five Board of Trustees, which oversees schools in Lexington and Richland counties. Lexington County residents selected their representatives from a four-candidate field.

Kim Gilbert racked up 9,846 votes (32.36%) and Jennifer G. Rice earned 9,573 votes (31.46%) to win their seats on the school board.

Opponents Karena Phelps and Blake Justice received 7,240 votes (23.79%) and 3,611 votes (11.87%), respectively.  Some 157 write-in votes were cast.

Lexington County Council

Four of seven seats on the Lexington County Council were filled without fanfare on Election Day, as all four Republican general election candidates faced no opposition on the ballot.

Ted Stamboilitis received 10,880 votes to secure the District 2 seat, Jason Guerry tallied 9,510 votes in District 7, Glen Cowell received 8,048 votes in District 8 and Todd Cullum garnered 6,807 votes to continue serving District 9.