A Pee Dee political action committee wants to see local and state agencies take stronger action against potential voter fraud. Tally McColl is the co-director of the Dillon County Political Action Committee and believes voter fraud happens too often in Dillon County. So for years, he says, his committee has offered a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of voter fraud. To date, the committee has handed out nothing.
“We report the alleged voter fraud to the South Carolina Election Commission, but there’s no follow-up in place,” McColl says.
The alleged voter fraud he’s talking about are claims made against now Dillon County Councilman Robbie Coward.
Coward’s opponent in last year’s general election, Sheila Coates Kellahan claimed Coward bought votes. Kellahan brought alleged evidence of the vote-buying to the county’s attention, which turned it over to the Dillon County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff gave the evidence to S.L.E.D. Susie Edwards, director of the Dillon County Voter Registration Office, says a federal agent also looked at the challenged votes but didn’t know any other details about it.
Coward had no comment on the allegations.
McColl says the state Election Commission and the Dillon County Voter Registration Office should have looked further into the claims.
Those offices say vote buying is a crime that only law enforcement can look into.
“The SEC has no investigative or law enforcement authority to conduct an investigation into criminal activity. Vote buying is a crime. Crimes are investigated by law enforcement. The SEC’s role in an investigation into vote buying would be to answer questions and provide information requested by the investigators,” says Chris Whitmire, Director of Public Information & Training at the South Carolina State Election Commission.
But the main role of those offices is the ensure fair elections, McColl says, adding he now questions how the offices can do that if either cannot conduct investigations.
