Norwood: Runoffs needed in plurality school board elections
While York County elections officials said this weekend the results for two school board seats in Rock Hill and Fort Mill have not yet been validated, one outgoing board member says he would like to see the way school board seats are elected.
In Rock Hill, voters chose between four candidates for an at-large seat, while in Fort Mill, it was a seven-way race.
Bob Norwood, whose retirement opens up the Rock Hill board seat, says that in the case of the four-way race, a board member being seated with just 30 percent of the vote is not an ideal situation.
[audio: 1112-Norwood-A.mp3]That’s not currently how the law works for non-partisan races. Norwood says he’s not advocating partisan for partisan races, but in this particular race, he thinks the voice of the people has not necessarily spoken.
[audio: 1112-Norwood-B.mp3]At last count, Terry Hutchinson beat out his nearest challenger, Wayne Wingate, by 90 votes of the more than 31-thousand votes cast for the at-large seat.