The SC election saga continues...LOL
By lilwonders
@lilwonders456 (8214)
United States
June 14, 2010 9:18pm CST
Vic Rowl who lost his primary run to an unknown has filed an protest about the election. He is citing "voting irregularities". Whatever that means. Alvin Greene beat him in a primary run off. Alvin Greene did not run any kind of a campaign. But to be honest Rowl did not run much of one either.
There are conspiracy theories running wild over this primary. People are saying sense it is a open voting state that republicans voted in teh democratic primary in hopes of getting the weaker candidate to win. Well it is not looking that way. Overwhelmingly (2 to 1) the voters in this state voted in the Republican primaries...not the Democratic primary.... so that theory is busted.
The other theory is he is a "plant". Well who would plant him? And why? Greene or Rowl neither one stood much of a chance against DeMint. He is very popular in SC and greatly favored to win no matter who the Democratic changeller was.
From what the "experts" are saying....either there really is a clerical error...or the fact that neither really ran a real campaign played against Rowl. They think most voters when in to vote not knowing much about either of them so just picked one. Greene just got picked by more people than Rowl, sense his name was listed first. Lesson to Rowl...just because you used to a judge and in the state house does not mean enough people knew who you were to vote for you without actually running a campaign for the position. Rowl thought because his opponate was an unknown with little money that he did not have to actually run for the position...looks like that arrogant attitude may have just bit him in the butt.
The only real remaining question is...where did Greene come up with the 10,000 to enter the race.
So tell me your take on this unusual primary race and what you think will happen? Here in SC we are watching it...but no really shocked...nothing shocks us anymore. Anything can and usually does happen in our elections.
3 people like this
6 responses
@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
15 Jun 10
I think the whole situation is hysterical. How much do you bet a movie is going to come out of this? Hehe. What I don't know if this was more of a vote against Rowl than it was for a vote for Greene. This just goes to show that sometimes politics can be amusing.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
15 Jun 10
Well Rowl did not run much of a campaign and here all everyone really has talked about is the govenors race. So I think a lot of democrats that voted in their primary knew alot about the candidates running for Gov.....but just about nothing about the ones running for Senate. So they just picked one. It is the iney,meny,miny,moe approach to voting....lol.
@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
15 Jun 10
Well, there is also the theory that Greene is listed above Rowl and due to the alphabetic order, Greene got voted in.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
15 Jun 10
Ya...most of the voters did not know who either of them were because they did not run much of campaign so they just picked the first name listed. I could see that happening. Rowl only has himself to blame. If he would have run a decent campaign he could and would have easily beat Greene...but he didn't. So he lost. Now he wants to contest it.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
15 Jun 10
Yep the whole country knows who he is now. But I am not sure it is how he wanted to be known.
He got an honorable discharge...so we don't know why got out. If he was thrown out or just got out. There is a lot we don't know about ths guy and rumors are flying.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
15 Jun 10
I know. Everyone has been watching that one. They can't blame this on crossover voting. The DNC messed up and did not vet the guy...now they are stuck with him.
@laglen (19759)
• United States
15 Jun 10
Yes South Carolina has been great fun just in this past year! I dont think he was a plant, I do think it happened like you said, just dumb luck because he was listed first! Good Luck!
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
17 Jun 10
My state seems to have no end of political craziness doesn't it. Well we can't say politics are boring in this state. LOL
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
16 Jun 10
What a fun job a political journalist has in SC...lol! I can bust you about your state because we have our own motley crew up here in PA, it's just that most of them are on the county and local level so the whole country doesn't necessarily hear about them. Yours somehow manage to get national attention every time one of them opens their mouths. I must say, from those I'm familiar with this guy Rawls that ran against Greene seems to be one of the most sensible and "normal" politicians down there.
Anyway, I thought he did at least run some semblance of a campaign, which is more than can be said about Greene, and that he spent a few hundred grand on it, I forget the exact amount? What I've been hearing, in fact just moments ago Rep. Clybourne was talking about it, is there may have been a problem with the voting machines. Some of them were made by Dibold, the company that was quite controversial a few years ago and which leave no paper trail so they can be checked. I don't know if this is true or if it was widespread enough to have made such a big difference but that's what they're saying.
Whatever the truth is, I think Alvin Greene is being used by somebody and that he's clearly not equipped to either run for or hold office. Nevertheless, sadly if I lived in SC I'd definitely vote for him over DeMint!
Annie
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
16 Jun 10
Rawls ran a really small campaign sence he thought he was a shoe in the primary. But little he did run did not get a lot of attention because the big focus here is the govn. race. Before this happened all you heard about was Gov race and not much else. So I think it was that the people voting in the democratic primary voted not really knowing either candidate.
I don't buy the whole voting machine thing because why would this race only be effected? People were voting on more than just this one race. So if there was a malfunction in the machine...the other races would have been effect too..and it is looking like those are just fine.
I agree the guy is not too bright. BUt he does have a degree in political science from the university of SC. He did just get out of military. Maybe he thought of this as a his next career move.
I have to say with the choice of Alvin Greene or DeMint...I would have to go with DeMint.
@Rollo1 (16676)
• Boston, Massachusetts
15 Jun 10
If anyone did know who Rawl was, it might have worked against him in this new political atmosphere where the voters want someone new and fresh and not part of the system. It could be a case of the voters just picking any name and Greene was listed first.
The voting irregularities stems from the fact that Rawl did much better amongst absentee voters and usually the numbers on absentee and polling place votes don't differ by as much. But maybe those who voted absentee actually researched the candidates before checking off the box and mailing it in.
I do think the only possible irregularity is where Greene got the money to file. If there's anything there of a suspicious nature, there could be trouble ahead.
But I don't think anyone has to worry, Greene isn't going to win a general election. For now, he's just providing a little entertainment.
@lilwonders456 (8214)
• United States
15 Jun 10
Well the people with absentee ballots would have voted from home...so if they came across two candidates they did not know they could have easily taken a few minuates and researched them online. They would have found a website for Rowl but not for Greene. So sense they could find something out about Rowl and not Greene they voted for Rowl.
You can't just stop in the ballot box room and research a candidate. So I think that may explain that.
1 person likes this
