Daniel Prince
Two statewide constitutional amendment questions will be on the ballot
Early voting continues all this week through Saturday at the Union County Voter Registration and Elections Office at 1246 South Duncan Bypass. They are open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. If you don’t take advantage of early voting this week, you will not be able to cast an early ballot on Monday. Instead, you will have to wait until Election Day on Tuesday, November 8, and vote at your regular polling place, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. WBCU will provide live election coverage after the polls close and inform you of the results as they come in.
The ballot will contain contested races for governor, secretary of state, treasurer, state superintendent of education, commissioner of agriculture, US Senate and US House District 5. Locally, contested races include county supervisor, county council districts 1 and 4, school board districts 4 and 9, and City Council District 1. School Board District 5 will appear to have a contested race between Mark Truitt and Tommy Mann, but Mann withdrew from the race to accept the call to serve as senior pastor at a church and school in Savannah, Georgia. Ann White has launched a write-in campaign against Rep. Doug Gilliam for the SC House District 42 seat. Other races appearing on the ballot will include Browns Creek Watershed Conservation District and Fire District Commissioners for Jonesville, Monarch, Santuc, and Southside.
In addition, there will be two statewide constitutional amendments on the ballot. The first is to increase the amount of money the state government must keep in the General Reserve Fund, known as its “rainy day fund” from 5% of the previous year’s revenue to 7%, increasing by .5% each year for four years until it reaches that amount. The second is to increase the amount of money the state government must appropriate to the Capital Reserve Fund, otherwise known as the “reserve and capital improvements fund” from 2% to 3% and require that the fund’s first priority would be to offset midyear budget cuts at state agencies should that be necessary. A yes vote would make those changes, while a no vote would keep things the same in those funds.