SC Could Have 43 Legislative Petition candidates

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Dozens of would-be candidates for Statehouse seats have turned in their petitions to get on November ballots. Chris Whitmire with the South Carolina Election Commission says 43 people met the deadline for turning in their signatures. Twenty of those came in Monday before the noon cutoff. An unprecedented number of people are trying to get on the ballot as a petition candidate after being booted from primary ballots. A state Supreme Court decision in May on improperly filed paperwork caused about 250 candidates statewide to be removed from the June 12 primaries. Becoming a petition candidate requires getting signatures from at least 5 percent of a district’s registered voters. The commission certified the first petition candidate last Thursday, validating the signatures collected by House candidate Raye Felder of Fort Mill.