SC Supreme Court rules on 2-year battle: Who is now Atlantic Beach mayor?

After a years-long legal fight that went all the way to the South Carolina Supreme Court, Josephine Isom is the certified mayor of Atlantic Beach.

Isom challenged mayoral election results in the race against fellow town Councilman John David, but the Atlantic Beach Municipal Election Committee, or MEC, and circuit court cited election irregularities and said they could not determine a winner. Now, the Supreme Court says that’s not true.

“Contrary to what the MEC found, after the protest process played out, the result of the election was not in doubt, as it was possible to determine the winner. What was impossible was for David to win,” the court wrote. “To hold otherwise would be to disenfranchise the voters who exercised their fundamental right of suffrage.”

Following the court’s decision, Isom was sworn in Monday and will serve through Dec. 31, 2027.

Neither Isom nor David responded to The Sun News’ requests for comment.

In the Nov. 7, 2023, town mayoral election, Isom initially beat out David with 52 votes to his 49. But when the MEC accepted 18 provisional ballots, David came out ahead by one vote in a 65 to 64 tally, with two votes for write-in candidates.

The road to the Supreme Court

In response, Isom protested the election results, arguing some voters did not reside in Atlantic Beach, and the MEC found 14 votes were fraudulent, 12 of which were provisional ballots.

The MEC wouldn’t certify the election on the grounds that it couldn’t determine who received illegitimate votes and, instead, ordered a new election – a decision which the circuit court affirmed.

“The circuit court had ruled a certain way, and they just rescinded that … that was the decision, and the Municipal Election Commission was fine with that. We just wanted to move forward,” said MEC Chair Kenneth McIver. “It had been a long time to make that decision, and we just wanted to move forward and heal and sort of keep going, so that’s what our decision was. We didn’t have any qualms, there was no other discussion, and we just want the council to have five members.”

Election equations

But, after doing the math, the South Carolina Supreme Court has officially reversed that outcome.

“After reviewing the record, we cannot find any evidence supporting such a doubt,” the opinion says. “We therefore reverse the MEC and the circuit court and direct the MEC to certify the election and declare Isom the winner.”

The Supreme Court found that, even if the six legal provisional votes went to David, and Isom lost two provisional votes, she would still be the winner.

“There was some sloppiness by the MEC, but not any irregularities that would change the outcome or render Isom’s victory doubtful,” the Court wrote.