One day after a court-ordered new election, the town of Atlantic Beach remains without a mayor-elect.
The decision will come down to about 15 challenged ballots from Tuesday's election..
There were two questions after that election, and here's the answers we found Wednesday.
One - Is it the candidate with the majority or the most votes who wins?
Wednesday, Sandy Martin, the head of the Horry County Election Office, told us it will take a majority of votes, 50% plus 1, which no candidate received Tuesday.
The second question that needed to be answered - Were write-ins to be allowed?
The county's election commission determined Wednesday morning that write-ins were OK.
So this is where the situation stands.
71 votes have been counted so far. That does not include the 14 to 16 challenged ballots that will be reviewed Thursday morning.
If those ballots don't count, there's no winner because no candidate got the required majority.
A majority of 71 is 35 and a half. Round that up and you get 36.
Councilwoman Retha Pierce got 35 votes, one vote shy of a majority.
The next highest vote-getter was write-in candidate, Mayor Pro-Tem Charlene Taylor.
Suspended and incumbent mayor Irene Armstrong got two votes.
So it will depend on what happens at the certification hearing Thursday with those challenged votes, most of which were under question of residency.
If some are counted, that changes the total, which changes the number of votes needed for a majority.
If, on Thursday after the challenged ballots are considered there's still no one with a clear majority, there will be a runoff between Retha Pierce and Charlene Taylor.
There was a new election ordered after the November 2007 election when it was challenged after allegations of fraud.
If this race does come down to a runoff, we're told that will happen December 16th.
