Knotts Still Feeling Heat After Blocking Ballot Plan

State Senator Jake Knotts is still feeling the heat after placing a legislative block on a measure that would allow many of the 180 disqualified candidates back on June primary ballots last Tuesday.

Now, a South Carolina political blogger is claiming an alleged 2010 duel challenge could come up in the latest protests against the senator — who is a frequent target of conservatives who call him a "Republican in name only."

Conservative groups across the state today are launching a grassroots effort called Operation Lost Vote with hopes of getting many Republican challengers to GOP incumbents tossed from the ballot added back.

Roxanne Wilson, wife of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), confronted the Lexington Republican on Tuesday after the lawmaker blocked a measure that she had supported.

Wilson's sister, Suzanne Moore, was one of the candidates who had been removed from the ballot by a earlier this month.

that named a handful of Lexington County candidates, including Knotts’ primary opponent Katrina Shealy, who hadn’t properly filed an SEI.

to be assembled on Monday to resolve the issue.

But the plaintiff in the case, Amanda Somers, , limiting the scope of her complaint to an issue with absentee ballots. 

Now, blogger Will Folks claims an argument in December 2010 may resurface in a complaint against Knotts.

According to multiple sources, Knotts is about to be sued over a December 2010 incident in which he challenged former South Carolina Republican Party official Patrick Haddon to a duel.

Folks' links to his own 2010 post, where he noted that Haddon claimed, via Facebook, that Knotts had challenged him to a duel. Folks alleges that the duel threat could get Knotts kicked out of the Statehouse, as dueling goes against the state's constitution.

Shealy has reportedly filed a protest with the SCGOP regarding the filing ruling from the S.C. Supreme Court. A call to lawyer Thomas Cofield was not immediately returned.

In Other S.C. Political News:

Operation Lost Vote Launched In Response to Ballot Controversy