Horry County Election Commission hears protests on Atlantic Beach election/Lisa Edge
Two candidates and the head of the Atlantic Beach Election Commission attended a hearing in Conway Friday to protest the special election held in Atlantic Beach on Tuesday. The Horry County Election Commission also recertified the results of the election.
After an almost four hour meeting Friday, the protests from Retha Pierce and Windy Price were denied.
Thursday night, Horry County received protests from mayoral candidates who were defeated in the election, Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce and town Councilwoman Windy Price. Commissioner Nicole Kenion also protested, but Horry County determined they couldn't hear her protest because she was not a candidate in the election.
At the protest hearing Friday, Windy Price claimed she was not given enough time to prepare for the hearing, which the county said had to be held within 48 hours of the votes being certified.
Price also said she didn't consider the Horry County Election Commission a "neutral party." She said they used their power to control the outcome of the election.
Horry County was ordered to run the special election by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Atlantic Beach had overturned its November 2011 election results and failed to set a new election date. When Governor Haley set the special election for May 22nd, she ordered Horry County to oversee it.
The results were certified on Thursday, but after the Horry County Election Commission realized they had inadvertently not counted several absentee ballots, they recertified the results Friday afternoon. The additional votes did not change the outcome of the election. The official results from the Horry County Election Commission were as follows:
Mayor
- **Jake Evans 84
- Retha Pierce 5
- Windy Price 1
Town Council
- **Josephine Isom 81
- **Charlene Taylor 79
- James Van Fleet 3
- Monique Pointer 1
- Write in 1
