In Columbia, state Senator Gerald Malloy, a Democrat from Hartsville, officially conceded his loss to Republican JD Chaplin on Monday, ending his challenge of the election results. Despite this, Malloy still called for a further review of the election process due to some inconsistencies in the vote count.
Malloy had planned to present his case to the state Election Commission but withdrew his challenge the day before. He was contesting the results because there was a difference of nearly 200 votes between the initial election count and the state-mandated recount.
With his withdrawal, a special election is no longer an option. Malloy’s legal team had wanted a full audit of how the results were calculated, including a review of the county’s voting machines. If that didn’t resolve the issue, they were pushing for a new election.
Malloy didn’t speak publicly after withdrawing but referred to his official filing, which claimed that the state Election Commission had refused to provide voting data to his expert witness, a retired computer science professor from the University of South Carolina.
In the recount on November 14, Chaplin had led Malloy by 278 votes, a margin small enough to trigger an automatic recount. Usually, recounts don’t change much, but this one showed a significant shift in the results for the roughly 50,000 votes cast in the district, which covers five counties.
After the recount, Chaplin’s lead shrank to just 87 votes, with Malloy gaining 51 votes and Chaplin losing 140 votes.
A large portion of the change came from Lee County, a rural area with about 16,000 residents. This prompted the state’s election director, Howard Knapp, to ask for an explanation.
The Election Commission also conducted its own review. Malloy’s legal team argued that the state used voting records to recheck the results in Lee County but wouldn’t let their expert review the data to verify the findings.
For Malloy to have won his challenge, he needed to prove that errors in the vote count caused his loss. Without access to the data, his lawyers argue that the results are still in question, even though Malloy decided to concede.
South Carolina Republicans celebrated Malloy’s concession.I’m glad to see former Senator Malloy agrees that it was time to listen to the voters and concede, said Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.
Republicans worked hard to unseat a 22-year incumbent Democrat, and their efforts paid off!”
Had Malloy appealed the decision, the state Senate would have had the final vote. However, his loss means the Democrats now have only 12 members left in the 46-member Senate, with eight of those Democrats facing no Republican opposition.
Despite conceding, Malloy continued to push for a review of the election results, calling for audits to ensure future elections are accurate.