Marlboro County school board member represents wrong district due to error

MARLBORO COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – A Marlboro County school board member has represented the wrong district for four years.

School Board Chair Lucy Parsons told News13 that Artemus Woods, who currently holds the seat for District Eight, actually lives in District Two, and has represented the wrong district for four years.

“It was a mistake that took place with the election commission, and the election commission will straighten it out, and then we’ll go from there,” said Parsons after Monday’s school board meeting.

The Marlboro County Board of Registration and Elections gave News13 this statement:

“It was brought to our attention last week that a voter resided in District 8 and a portion of Academy Road was not updated correctly in our system. According to our maps they reside in District 2 and it has been updated. At this time, we have no other comment than filing ended Friday, Aug 3 2018 @ noon, and everyone had filed in their correct District.”

According to Marlboro County School District policy BBBC, “If a board member’s permanent residence ceases to be in his/her single-member election district, the member will resign immediately.” 

School Board member Michael Coachman spoke on what he called, “the elephant in the room,” during the meeting on Monday.

“There’s no sense in keeping it in the dark,” said Coachman. “I think the public already knows the concerns that we have over our elections commission. I’d like to have something on the agenda for next month to get some clarity this board needs, and anyone that’s running for our seats,” he continued. “Just to know, and have some clarity on which district they serve, and where the lines are.”

Coachman said the school board was not at fault.

“I’d like to see if our legislatures or local representatives, and elections commission could come to the board meeting to give us some clarity, and to fix the problem that we did not cause,” he continued. “That we’re not responsible for, and putting us in this predicament.” 

Woods declined comment with News13.

The school board also voted unanimously to add a $10 million referendum to the November ballot.

The board decided the referendum would pay for the following, in this order:

• Renovations and/or new construction at Bennettsville Intermediate School

• Safety and security improvements at all schools and certain other facilities in the school district

• Renovations and improvements at other schools in the district to the extent it can be done with the amount of remaining money

“It’s time,” said Parsons. “It’s important to maintain facilities as you go along,” she continued. “That hasn’t been done in a timely enough way. There have always been other things that interfered with it, and I think now we’re getting on a good schedule of maintenance, and renovation in a schedule so it’s not a crisis.”