Update: Atlantic Beach re-instates its election commission, but fires commission head
Atlantic Beach Town Council voted Tuesday to reinstate its election commission, but fired the head of the commission over a conflict of interest.
Joe Montgomery was fired for participating in prohibited political activity, the council reported during a special meeting.
Joeseph Dickey, Atlantic Beach’s attorney, said in a press conference that the next steps for the town include figuring out how to move forward with the mayoral race and filing a response to the South Carolina Supreme Court lawsuit filed against them.
The municipal election votes have not been certified and there are no current plans for a run-off election. It is unclear when a new mayor will be announced.
Mayoral candidate John David Jr. said he thinks city council candidates that are currently in the election should have excused themselves for Tuesday’s vote
“I’m appalled that two sitting council people that are part of an election have made a decision on an election commissioner while they’re in an active election,” David said.
The two council members are mayoral candidate Josephine Isom and city council candidate Jacqueline Gore. Isom is running for mayor against David.
On Nov. 10, three days after the municipal election, the election commission met to count contested ballots. After votes had been counted, showing a reversal of the election results on Nov. 7, Atlantic Beach Mayor Jake Evans called for an emergency meeting and fired everyone on the commission.
Unofficial results between mayoral candidates Isom and David were too close to call and were supposed to lead to a run-off election.
On Nov. 7, the unofficial results had Isom in the lead, with votes at 62-49. However, that changed on Nov. 9 when a recount showed David in the lead with 64-65.
David filed a lawsuit on Nov. 14 with the South Carolina Supreme Court after the firing of the election committee.
The mayoral decision will impact the future of the Black Pearl, a 21-story condotel scheduled to built along the coast in Atlantic Beach. David opposes the development while Isom supports it.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as information is released.
This story was originally published November 28, 2023 at 12:50 PM.
