Protest Filed Over Alvin Greene Victory In South Carolina

Vic Rawl, the man who lost to mystery Senate candidate Alvin Greene has officially protested the outcome withe the South Carolina Democratic Party:

The executive committee of the S.C. Democratic Party will meet Thursday to consider a protest Vic Rawl filed Monday after his surprise thrashing at the hands of a political unknown who is facing a felony obscenity charge.

“We have filed this protest not for my personal or political gain but on behalf of the people of South Carolina,” Rawl, a Charleston County councilman and former judge, said Monday during a news conference in Charleston. “There is a cloud over (last) Tuesday’s election. There is a cloud over South Carolina that affects all of our people, Democrats and Republicans, white and African-American alike.”

The executive committee could order a taxpayer-funded new primary, agree with the S.C. Election Commission’s certification of the results or find that voting or vote-counting problems were so significant that Rawl should be declared the winner.

Rawl and the man who defeated him, unemployed military veteran Alvin Greene, will have an opportunity to present witnesses and evidence, Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler said, adding that Rawl has requested a new primary with paper ballots instead of the voting machines used throughout the state.

Fowler stressed that Thursday’s meeting is not a campaign do-over.

“It is based purely on the election process,” she said.

To date, there’s still no proof that there was any wrongdoing associated with Greene’s appearance on the ballot, or his victory, but that hasn’t stopped him from coming up with complaints about the process:

[Rawl] said those circumstances include voters who “repeatedly pressed the screen for me only to have the other candidate’s name appear,” poll workers who had to change program cards multiple times and a voter in the Republican primary who had the Democratic U.S. Senate race appear on her ballot.

Rawl also criticized what he described as “the well-documented unreliability and unverifiability of the voting machines used in South Carolina,” which he said were “purchased surplus from Louisiana after that state outlawed them.”

Color me unimpressed. People have been making complaints about voting machines since Ohio in 2004 and none of the complaints have ever been verified.

I’m not sure it matters, though. Assuming they can find an excuse under party rules, I’m fully expect the South Carolina Democrats will find a way to get Greene off the ballot.

FILED UNDER: 2010 Election, US Politics, , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Michael Reynolds says:

    Unfortunately, “Because he’s an idiot,” is not considered sufficient reason to remove someone from the ballot. Such a standard would decimate the ranks of politicians.

  2. drew says:

    “Unfortunately, “Because he’s an idiot,” is not considered sufficient reason to remove someone from the ballot. Such a standard would decimate the ranks of politicians.”

    Heh. Indeed. But you are not yet King, and so campaign laws still pertain. Well, its the Democratic Primary. Scrap that, maybe not. And remember: blame it all on the Republicans. Even better: racist Republicans, eh, Michael?

  3. Michael Reynolds says:

    I don’t accuse people of racism unless like our friend Tango they are known to be.

    Or unless, for example, they’re a guy who denies the very existence of racism, denies that the GOP has or ever has had a problem with race, plays the white victim card, and insists on referring to the president as a “community organizer.”

    You’ll notice I’ve never made any suggestion of that sort with regards to Joyner, or Rick Moran, or any number of Republicans with whom I interact. Probably because they don’t deny the existence of racism, or the GOP’s history since the 60’s, or play the white victim card, or sneer at the president as a “community organizer.”

  4. JKB says:

    This is comedy gold. The Dems must argue there is nothing wrong with a black man running for the Senate unless he wins. They now must scam the system to ensure their party line results. Not to mention, electronic voting machines were suppose to save Dems from hanging chads (and be easier to manipulate) but instead they tripped themselves up.

    Let’s face it, an unknown black man won over an unknown (except for the party elite) white man and that ain’t right.

  5. matt says:

    No evidence? How about the dude having no reason for throwing down nearly $11k for a job he doesn’t even remotely seem prepared for (while being too poor to afford an attorney thus getting a court appointed one). Have you watched him give an interview? He can’t even give a reason for why he’s running. He won’t even say how he came up with the money. This is not a man that is interested in politics or any of the exposure.

    Meanwhile there’s districts reporting more votes then people who could of voted in both the democratic and republican sides. Something is extremely goofed up and pretending it’s not won’t magically make the numbers suddenly make sense..

    The problem here seems to be that you can’t be bothered to spend time to look up the VERIFIED history of voting irregularities involving these machines. Anyone that has experience with integrated systems and programming are horrified at the concept of not having a paper trail for voting with these machines..

  6. Jack Kennedy says:

    democrat racism showing in SC