South Carolina judicial elections, 2014

South Carolina judicial elections, 2014
Overview
Total candidates:	52
Primary candidates:	18
General election candidates:	42
Incumbency
Incumbents:	32
Incumbent success rate:	97%
Competition - general election
Percent of candidates in contested races:	29%
Percent uncontested:	71%
Partisan victories
Republican	15
Democratic	22

2015 → ← 2013
Judicial Elections
Judicial elections, 2014
Judicial election dates
Candidates by state
Supreme court elections

South Carolina judicial elections are only held during every other general election year. The only type of judges elected in the state are those of the probate courts.

In 2014, there were contested races for the probate courts in the counties of Allendale, Anderson, Chesterfield, Edgefield, Horry, Jasper, Kershaw, Lancaster, Pickens, and Union.

Four out of the ten contested races were decided during the primary. Since only one party put up any candidates for those seats, the winners of those primaries were unopposed in the general election. The race for the Allendale County Probate Court was decided after the primary runoff.

See: South Carolina elections summary, 2014

Election dates

• March 30: Filing deadline
• June 10: Primary
• June 24: Primary runoff
• November 4: General election

In addition to candidate lists, this page includes information about how the state's judicial elections work, as well as articles about noteworthy news in races across the state.

General election: Contested races

(I) denotes incumbent

Chester County Probate Court Seat 1

• Patricia McCree, 40.8%A
• Lois H. Roddey (I), 58.9%A

Chesterfield County Probate Court, Seat 1

• Gail Ingram, 55.4%A
• Ralph Watson, 44.5%A

Edgefield County Probate Court, Seat 1

• Kevin Beck, 22.2%A
• Robert E. Peeler (I), 77.5%A

Kershaw County Probate Court, Seat 1

• David Reuwer, 37.4%A
• Debbie Branham, 62.6%A

Lancaster County Probate Court, Seat 1

• Jerry L. Holt, 46.3%A
• Sandra S. Estridge (I), 53.6%A

Union County Probate Court, Seat 1

• Calvin Payton, 44.8%A
• William D. All, 55.2%A

General election: Uncontested

The following candidates were elected or re-elected after running unopposed in the general election.

Trial courts

Court	Candidate
Click the arrows in the column headings to sort columns alphabetically.
Jasper County Probate Court	Albert Kleckley, Jr.
Richland County Probate Court	Amy W. McCulloch
Colleton County Probate Court	Ashley H. Amundson
York County Probate Court	Carolyn Rogers
Sumter County Probate Court	Dale Atkinson
Lexington County Probate Court	Daniel R. Eckstrom
Greenville County Probate Court	Debora A. Faulkner
Allendale County Probate Court	Duncan Keith Smith
Charleston County Probate Court	Irvin G. Condon
Florence County Probate Court	J. Munford Scott
Cherokee County Probate Court	Joshua L. Queen
McCormick County Probate Court	Kathryne Butler
Horry County Probate Court	Kathy G. Ward
Pickens County Probate Court	Kathy P. Zorn
Laurens County Probate Court	Kaye W. Fridy
Berkeley County Probate Court	Keith W. Kornahrens, Sr.
Newberry County Probate Court	Kelly Baker Nobles
Beaufort County Probate Court	Kenneth E. Fulp
Oconee County Probate Court	Kenneth E. Johns, Jr.
Marlboro County Probate Court	Mark Heath
Abbeville County Probate Court	Mark Sumner
Anderson County Probate Court	Martha D. Newton
Darlington County Probate Court	Marvin I. Lawson
Barnwell County Probate Court	Myrna Still Dill
Fairfield County Probate Court	Pamela W. Renwick
Orangeburg County Probate Court	Pandora LaShawn Jones-Glover
Spartanburg County Probate Court	Ponda A. Caldwell
Hampton County Probate Court	Sheila Odom
Dillon County Probate Court	Teresa Campbell
Greenwood County Probate Court	Travis Moore

Primary

For candidate lists and results from the judicial primary on June 10, 2014, please see: South Carolina judicial primary elections, 2014.

Process

Probate court judges compete in partisan elections in every other general election year.

Primary election

Primary elections for probate court candidates are conducted on the second Tuesday in June.

Unopposed candidates

Unopposed candidates for the probate courts do not appear on the primary ballots, but automatically advance to the general election.

Runoffs

Also referred to as a "second primary," a primary runoff is held two weeks after the primary for races where more than two candidates filed to compete for one seat in a party primary. If that is the case, the two candidates with the most votes in the primary advance to a runoff. The person with the most votes in the runoff becomes the party's nominee for the general election.

For example, if two Democratic candidates compete in the primary, the winner simply advances to the general election. However, if three Democratic candidates compete in the primary, the top two advance to the runoff. The winner of the runoff would face any Republican candidate in the general election.

Noteworthy events

The following articles were current as of the dates listed.

South Carolina primary highlights June 12, 2014

Click for story→

See also: JP Election Brief: Looking back on primaries in four states as candidates advance toward November South Carolina’s general election on November 4, 2014 followed the announcement of the June 10th primary winners. Kathy G. Ward was named the probate judge for the Horry County Probate Court, after she defeated incumbent Deirdre W. Edmonds, her former boss. Ward was the associate probate judge for many years. Martha D. Newton held on to her seat as Anderson County probate judge. The 72-year-old Newton withstood a challenge from 46-year-old magistrate Dan Sharp. In the 2014 election year, both Newton and Sharp made the race one of Anderson County’s most expensive, raising nearly $32,000 between them. Sharp self-identified as a "lifelong Republican, while Newton said that party affiliation had little to do with the day-to-day business of handling estates and other court duties. Sharp later criticized Newton for failing to file financial paperwork related to the charity thrift store she operates on time, though Newton later fixed the problem. In South Carolina’s judiciary, only county probate judges are elected by voters. South Carolina's other judicial positions are chosen through votes of state legislators. Throughout South Carolina, voter turnout was described as low, but average. In some cases, voter participation increased from previous years. In Anderson County for example, nearly 17 percent of 113,000 registered voters cast ballots, which marked an increase over 2012’s 9.6 percent voter turnout.

See also

• South Carolina judicial elections
• Judicial selection in South Carolina
• South Carolina Probate Courts

External links

• South Carolina State Election Commission