Easley 2012 Election Results: The Votes Are In

Updated results: If you don't see results above, click this link.

Sheriff-elect Rick Clark wants area law enforcement agencies to work together to catch criminals.

Sen. Larry Martin has been re-elected to another term, and his priorities include fixing the candidate filing mess that saw hundreds of candidates tossed off ballots this year. 

School board trustee Judy Edwards has won another term, and she wants to focus on the completion of the district's building program. 

Now that President Barack Obama has been elected to another term, where does the GOP go from here? 

In Pickens County, more people registered to vote for this election, but overall turnout was down. 

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5:15 p.m. — Turnout
Voter turnout up significantly from local primary at 18 percent. Presidential Primary at 29 percent, according to Elections Director Rodney Allen.

He predicts a minimum 70 percent voter turnout today, but could be as high as 80 percent by the time polls close.

2:35 p.m. — Elections director says more are voting
Rodney Allen said this year's election drawing people who hadn't voted in a long time. "We love to see that."

Many polls had people waiting at 7 a.m., Allen said.

"That's always a good sign when you see large numbers exercising their rights."

Lines in neighboring counties have had up to 2.5 hour waits, Allen said. Area lines moving quickly, he said.

"Most of it is just, you have a finite number of equipment and poll workers, and a whole lot of voters," Allen said. "Because we split our precincts, that has helped our lines tremendously."

1:45 p.m. — Elections director says it's winner take all.
Elections Director Rodney Allen says the local races are winner take all except in the event of a tie, which would force a runoff.

Allen says smooth sailing at the polls throughout Pickens County with new precincts shortening wait times.

He is projecting a 70-80 percent turnout by the end of the day.

12:54 p.m. — Why one man voted for Romney
Voter Bill Bulkeley says there are many reasons he voted for Romney including the economy, jobs, job creation, foreign policy and government regulation.

He says, "The executive branch is running wild."

He also says, "Regulations are hurting business, which hurts job creation." He says there's no doubt the economy will turn around if Romney is elected.

12:43 p.m. —Half way there!

By 12: 35 p.m., St. Matthias has already seen 48.6 percent of registered voters Poll Clerk Theresa Hawkins expects to remain high.

11:12 a.m. — Why she didn't vote for Barack Obama.
Lynn Evans said country can't take four more Obama years Romney/Ryan have a better plan.

Evans also said Tim Morgan has her vote due to his experience as Assistant Sheriff.

"He knows the job, he's knows the people and he's done a good job," she said. "I think he'll do a good job as sheriff."

11:06 a.m. — Why they voted for Mitt Romney.
Joe and Phyllis Venable say that they're tired of Obama's foreign policies, economic policies. "Thing just don't seem to be going anywhere," Joe Venable said. Mitt Romney is the more conservative candidate, they said, and he got their vote this morning.

10:26 a.m. — Lines moving quickly.
Long line at Brushy Creek precinct but moving quickly. County Council candidate Chris Bowers said he's seen large turnouts

9:33 a.m. — Candidates visiting polling places in Pickens County.
House candidate Ed Harris is visiting polling places, pictured with Mary Beth Oxendine and Mark Roe.

8:53 a.m. — B.R. Skelton's brother greeting voters.

B.R. Skelton's brother BJ + Ed Harris supporter Stephen Reeves discuss which candidate really GOP nominee as they greet voters

7:58 a.m. Polls have been open for about an hour.

Polls are open in Pickens County.

Local Elections

In a response to all the ballot confusion from earlier this year, the Pickens County office of Elections & Registrations recently released a list of candidates who will appear on ballots in Pickens County on Nov. 6. 

State Senate

The third PCVotes debate on Oct. 23 was the last for District 2 between Sen. Larry Martin and his challenger, former Rep. Rex Rice, who mounted a successful petition campaign to appear on the ballot.  

At that debate, Martin and Rice discussed , amongst other topics. 

The two candidates met again for a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Clemson Area, discussing programs they'd cut and the legislative issues they'd most want to address if elected. 

Martin picked up a big endorsement from Gov. Nikki Haley, who called Sen. Martin one of her strongest allies. 

State House of Representatives

Despite losing the primary to challenger Ed Harris, incumbent Rep. B.R. Skelton is the GOP nominee for House District 3.  

GOP leadership reversed an earlier decision to support Harris, declaring Skelton would be the nominee. 

Harris then launched a successful petition campaign to appear on the ballot. 

Though Skelton is the GOP nominee, he'll have to do without the support of the Pickens County Republican Party, which threw its support behind Ed Harris. 

Skelton will also have to do without the support of the State Republican Party as well - they've announced they're supporting Harris as well. 

Sheriff's Race

No matter which of the three candidates for sheriff win the Nov. 6 election, Pickens County will have a new sheriff for the first time in over 40 years, following Sheriff C. David Stone's decision to concede the race during the runoff between himself and Rick Clark, who received more votes than Stone in the June 12 primary, but not enough to avoid a runoff. 

Following the ballot controversy earlier this year, Stan Whitten launched a successful petition campaign to appear on the ballot in the Sheriff's race, become the county's first petition candidate to gather enough signatures to appear on the ballot. 

Assistant Sheriff Tim Morgan promised his boss that he would never run against him, but Stone's concession in June allowed Morgan to launch his own petition campaign, successfully earning the right to appear on the November ballot.  

Independence Candidate Keith Culbreath announced in August that he was dropping out of the sheriff race, throwing his support behind Morgan. 

The three candidates for Sheriff met in a debate that Patch helped organize.

School Board

The only school board race that is contested is the Easley seat. Incumbent Judy Edwards will face challengers Dr. Valerie Ramsey and David Whittemore. 

Those three candidates recently met in a PCVotes-sponsored debate, which can be seen here.