Two petition candidates file

Two of the nine candidates who announced they would seek office by petition candidacy have filed their forms with the appropriate offices.

As of 3 p.m. July 9, Dr. Robert L. Ridgeway who is seeking the House Dist. 67 seat and Pete Surette Jr. who is seeking the job of Clarendon County Sheriff have filed their petition forms. Ridgeway filed his forms with the South Carolina Election Commission while Surette filed his forms with the Clarendon County Election Commission. Both sets of forms were forwarded to the Clarendon County Office of Voter Registration who will determine if the signatures on the forms are active registered voters.

Other candidates who announced they would seek election by petition candidacy include: Eleazor Carter, Kevin Johnson and Shaun Kent for Senate District 36; Willie Bethune for House District 67; James Russell Blackwell and Carroll Harrington for Clarendon County Sheriff; and Jerome McCray for Chairman of Clarendon County Council.

Johnson has qualified as a candidate on the Democrat ballot, but says he has adopted a “better safe than sorry” strategy. The other candidates had filed to run as Democrats in the June primary but because they failed to file the appropriate paper work on time with the appropriate agency, they were booted off the primary ballot and decided to run as petition candidates.

The number of signatures required on the various petitions equals five percent of the active registered voters who could vote in that particular race.

As of 3 p.m. July 9, the necessary number of qualified voters’ signatures needed to run for the different offices are:

House District 67

• 1180 - (23,604 active registered voters)

Senate District 36

• 2958 - (59,159 active registered voters)

Countywide

• 1124 - (22,478 active registered voters)

The deadline for filing petition candidacy forms is noon July 16. All state candidates must file with the South Carolina Election Commission while countywide candidates must file with the Clarendon County Election Commission prior to the deadline.