Thursday, the State Election Commission said the ballots for the June 12th Primary Election have been set and no changes will be made.
"Ballots have been printed, voting machines have been prepared, and voters are voting," according to a news release from Chris Whitmire with the State Election Commission.
The release is in response to the South Carolina GOP executive committee voting Wednesday to put Katrina Shealy on the ballot to run against state Sen. Jake Knotts of Lexington in the Republican primary for Senate District 23.
Shealy was one of nearly 200 candidates removed from the primary ballots after a May 2nd South Carolina Supreme Court decision. The court decided the candidates had not filed their statement of economic interest forms either properly or on time.
The state released a list of the Republican and Democratic candidates who were declared ineligible on May 4th, but many candidates are still being told they can be added to the ballots.
For those ousted candidates who still want to run, the next step is a petition drive. To be placed on the ballot, state law requires independent candidates to get signatures from five percent of registered voters in a district, with those petitions due by mid-July.
