There were three seats up for election on the seven member James Island Public Service District Commission. Incumbents June Waring, Carter McMillan and Eugene Platt all sought reelection. There were six challengers--Kathy Woolsey, Sandy Engelman, Donna Jenkins, Giovanni Richardson, Alan Lauglin, and Oana Johnson.
Voters in the JIPSD, which includes the Town of James Island and unincorporated areas of James Island, could each choose up to three candidates. The three candidates with the most votes win seats. There is no runoff unless there is a tie for third place.
The results:
Sandy Engleman 2325
Donna Jenkins 1695
Oana Johnson 905
Alan Laughlin 975
Carter McMillan 1559
Eugene Platt 2322
Giovanni Richardon 1134
June Waring 2177
Kathy Woolsey 3183
Kathy came in first and we both greatly appreciate the confidence JIPSD voters have shown in her.
She won her seat by a convincing margin--858 voters more than second place Sandi Engleman and 861 more than third place Eugene Platt. Incumbent June Waring is out, being 145 votes behind Platt.
Kathy came in first in 16 of the 20 voting precincts on James Island. Platt won Folly Beach 2, Jenkins won both JI 1B and JI 3 but was in fifth place overall. Engelman beat Kathy by one vote in JI 13, that being her only first place finish.
I was very disappointed that incumbent Carter McMillan lost his seat, coming in sixth, needing 764 more votes to beat Platt for third place. He had 1559, so he needed almost 50% more votes than he received.
One interesting fact about this election is that 37% of the votes were absentee. The precinct results don't include these nearly 6,000 votes. This includes both the traditional paper absentee ballots and the "early voting." Kathy won the largest number of those votes, 1,106, making up 35% of her total. Waring, Platt, and Jenkins received disproportionately more absentee votes--close to 42% of their totals. Of course, that wasn't enough for 5th place Jenkins or 4th place Waring. McMillan received 511 absentee or 33% of his total. It was the absentee votes that pushed Jenkins past McMillan to 5th place, but both were well behind Waring.
Kathy worked very hard on this election and we spent a good bit of money. Thank you to all of our contributors. The biggest expense was signs. Kathy spent a good bit on ads on facebook and instagram. We distributed 2,000 flyers. There are approximately 6,000 households in the JIPSD so this was about 1/3. Kathy distributed most and I did a good many, but she had several volunteers who worked in their neighborhoods. Thanks.
So, hard work pays.
On the other hand, Sandi Engleman did little more than put signs out in the right of way. The signs were mostly paid for by former JIPSD Commissioner Rod Welch (who is joining her in the suit against the Town.)
Most remarkably, Eugene Platt did approximately nothing and was reelected.
So, you can win doing next to nothing. But I wouldn't bet on it.
And Kathy didn't.
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