DILLON COUNTY -- NewsChannel 15 received several calls Monday morning about the certification of six candidates seeking offices in Dillon County.
The South Carolina Election Commission said they received a letter from Dillon County Democratic Chairman Clarence "Sonny" McRae saying six more candidates have been declared ineligible for the June primary and November election, based on the South Carolina Supreme Court's ruling more than a week ago.
That ruling led to about 180 candidates state-wide being ineligible to be on the ballot because they either didn't file their required statement of economic interest properly or on time.
Election Commission Public Information Officer Chris Whitmire says McRae notified his office to disqualify Macio Williamson, Bobby Moody, Robert "Archie" Scott, Aaron Gandy, Donnie Grimsley and Major Hulon.
Douglas Pernell, Randy Goings, Jack Scott, Marvin Suggs, and Michael Grice were removed from the list of qualified candidates on May 4 because of the same Supreme Court ruling.
NewsChannel 15 called McRae to verify the information received from Whitmire and he said the information wasn't accurate.
We placed another call to Whitmire and during the course of our conversation, he said he'd just received a fax from McRae to disregard the letter he sent to decertify the last six candidates because they are eligible for the June primary and November election.
As far as the five candidates disqualified on May 4, they remain ineligible, according to the Election Commission.
Whitmire says those candidates can start their petition drives now to be able to run in November as independent candidates. He says candidates must receive signatures from 5 percent of active, registered voters within the area they hope to represent.
The deadline to run as a petition candidate is July 16th.
