Horry Republican drops appeals, finally accepts defeat in County Council chairman’s race

Defeated Horry County Council chairman Mark Lazarus is dropping his appeal for a new election days after county GOP leaders tossed his claim of a compromised June 28 runoff.

Lazarus said in a statement Tuesday he won’t ask the state Republican Party to intervene after losing by 260 votes to incumbent Johnny Gardner amid a glitch that sent 1,377 Republicans Democratic absentee ballots days ahead of the election.

“Unfortunately, appealing the county party’s decision .. won’t give Horry County voters the answers they deserve as to what went wrong in their election,” he said in a press release.

Narrow loss questioned

Lazarus, who ran the County Council from 2013 through 2018, lost the June 28 runoff Gardner by 260 votes but questioned those results because of a printing and processing error by West Columbia-based Sun Solutions.

Lazaurs requested that county election officials a day after the runoff to delay certifying results until all absentee ballots could be counted, but they refused.

Lazarus then went to the county’s party, but its executive committee on July 7 took a 40-5 vote tossing Lazarus’ appeal because it was filed one day after a state-mandated deadline,.

Lazarus then vowed to bring his case before state Republican leaders.

“There was solid reason to believe the outcome could have been affected by this blunder and it was my intention to make sure the error was addressed, and those votes counted,” Lazarus said. Had the hearing proceeded, Lazarus was ready to call county elections chief Sandy Martin as a witness.

Instead, he filed a petition with the S.C. GOP a day later but said in a statement on Tuesday he was dropping the matter. The state’s executive committee was scheduled to take up the matter on Thursday.

Gardner could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday but said last week the election was “solid.”

Swiping at Horry County GOP leaders, Lazarus said the July 7 meeting was the “proper venue for a fair hearing,” even though it never happened. That’s because Gardner’s legal team pointed to an obscure piece of state law dating back to 1962 requiring any protests for elections of county officers be submitted to party chairs “not later than noon Monday” after a race is certified.

In Lazarus’ case, that would have meant July 4. But Jarrett Bouchette, Gardner’s lawyer, argued the law makes no exception for holidays, nullifying the complaint.

This story was originally published July 12, 2022 at 12:00 AM.