Atlantic Beach Election Commission votes to hold special election for mayor

ATLANTIC BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The town of Atlantic Beach will hold another election to determine who will be the mayor.

During an hours-long meeting on Wednesday, the Atlantic Beach Election Commission voted to hold a special election to determine if Councilman John David or Councilwoman Josephine Isom will be the next mayor of the town.

This comes after a close race between the two back in November.

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David was announced the winner, but Isom filed an election protest claiming that people voted in the November election who did not live in Atlantic Beach.

Over the past few months, there was drama surrounding the election commission, and protest hearings that were postponed.

On Tuesday, a hearing on Isom’s allegations was held, where she challenged 14 ballots, claiming that the people were not qualified to vote in the elections. She originally claimed that 19 votes were not valid.

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Isom’s attorney called former Atlantic Beach Mayor Irene Armstrong as a witness. Armstrong said she receives the voter registration records every election and corroborated Isom’s claims.

The attorney for John David did not call any witnesses during the protest hearing, but provided affidavits on the people whose ballots were being challenged by Isom.

In the end, the election commission determined that 13 ballots were fraudulent and deemed that November’s mayoral election was not valid.

It’s not clear at this point when the special election will be held.

Atlantic Beach recently voted to hand control over its future elections to Horry County.

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