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What You Need To Know Before Voting On June 9

The South Carolina primary election is on June 9, 2020, and it’s more important than ever that you use your voice and vote. 

The June 9 primary election will determine the democrat or republican candidates that will then move on to the general election on November 3, 2020. 

If you’re confused about what you’re voting for, who to vote for, or where to even start, we’re here to help. 

First, make sure you’re registered to vote. Once you’re registered, there are three different ways to vote:

  1. Request absentee ballot and mail it in. For the ballot to count, the voter registration office must receive it no later than 7:00 pm on June 9. 
  2. Request absentee ballot and drop it off in person. You can do this up until 5 pm on June 8. 
  3. Vote on June 9 in person. You can check your polling place at SC Votes. 

What positions will you be voting for on June 9? 

Depending on your county, you will be voting for:

  • State House of Representatives
  • U.S. House of Representatives
  • State Senate
  • U.S. Senate
  • County Council 
  • Coroner
  • Sheriff

Your elected officials will be the people who represent your interests on issues such as education, law enforcement, medical marijuana, Santee Cooper, offshore drilling, and many others at the local, state, and federal levels of government. 

To find out who you can vote for in your district, you can visit Ballotpedia for a sample ballot or find what district you’re in using the maps below and search the list below to see State House Representative candidates and State Senate candidates in your district.  

South Carolina House of Representatives By District

District 94 – Serves parts of Charleston and Dorchester Counties

Republican Con Chellis is retiring. 

Candidates: 

District 99 – Serves parts of Berkeley and Charleston Counties

Republican Nancy Mace is running for Congress. 

Candidates: 

District 100 – Serves parts of Berkeley and Charleston Counties

Candidates: 

District 109 – Serves parts of Charleston and Dorchester Counties

Democrat David Mack is retiring. 

Candidates: 

District 110 – Serves part of Charleston County 

Candidates: 

District 111 – Serves part of Charleston County 

Candidates: 

District 112 – Serves part of Charleston County 

Republican Mike Sottile is retiring. 

Candidates: 

District 113 – Serves parts of Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties 

Candidates: 

District 115 – Serves part of Charleston County

Peter McCoy has been appointed US Attorney. 

Candidates: 

District 116 – Serves part of Charleston County 

Democrat Robert Brown is retiring. 

Candidates: 

District 117 – Serves parts of Berkeley and Charleston Counties

Candidates: 

South Carolina Senate By Districts

District 32 – Serves parts of Berkeley, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, and Williamsburg

Candidates: 

District 39 – Serves parts of Berkeley and Dorchester Counties

Democrat John Matthews is retiring. 

Candidates: 

District 41 – Serves parts of Charleston and Dorchester Counties

Candidates: 

District 44 – Serves parts of Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties

Republican Paul Campbell is retiring. 

Candidates: 

 

New In Charleston

Carnival Won’t Resume Cruises from CHS Until September

Feature Image Source: Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Cruise Line’s Charleston-based cruise ship, Sunshine, will not start sailing again until at least September 2020, according to ABC4 News.

Carnival announced earlier in May that all cruises in its global fleet will be canceled for at least the next three months amidst the COVID-19 crisis. This comes after Carnival initially suspended cruises for a minimum of thirty days in mid-March, a suspension that expired on May 11.

The cruise company plans to allow eight ships to cruise again from Miami, Port Canaveral, and Galveston before August, while cruises from most other North American and Australian ports are projected to open on Sept. 1.

Cruises aboard Charleston’s Sunshine are tentatively scheduled to resume Sept. 5, 2020, with a five-day cruise to the Bahamas. Other trips to Bermuda and the Caribbean out of Charleston are now accepting bookings through 2022. All schedules are subject to change in the coming weeks as the pandemic continues to unfold.

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teachers

Lowcountry Colleges Release Plans for Upcoming Classes

Multiple higher institutions around Charleston have come to decisions regarding upcoming summer and fall classes as the cornoavirus pandemic continues.

Here is a list with the latest information released by colleges in our area regarding class structures:

The Citadel

Summer classes will remain online with the exception of certain lab-based courses planned for in-person instruction during the second term (July 4 – August 7) as social distancing allows. On May 12, Citadel President Glenn Walters announced intentions for cadets to return in August for in-person classes. The college plans to welcome freshman on August 17 and have upper-class cadets return on August 25. Classes will tentatively start for graduate students on August 26, and on August 28 for cadets.

College of Charleston

Summer classes are currently only being offered online. Earlier this month the college established “internal working groups” to research various possibilities for the fall semester including, “Evaluating everything from instruction delivery and housing to employee work schedules and campus events/activities,” communication director Michael Robertson said. Proposed recommendations will be submitted in mid-June.

Trident Technical College

Classes will remain online throughout May, and a small number of hands-on courses will be offered starting June 15 with increased safety measures, according to a college spokesperson. There has not yet been an announcement about fall courses as of May 13.

“These measures include the mandatory use of masks, reconfiguration of work spaces in labs where needed, installation of barriers where appropriate, closure of common areas, making hand sanitizer widely available, marking spacing for queues, and extensive signage explaining safety protocols and our expectations for behavior while on campus,” said public infomration director David Hansen. “While we are preparing to reopen June 15, that date could change based on the availability of PPE and other factors.”

Featured

Firefly Distillery Begins Hand-Sanitizer Production

Featured Image Source: Firefly Distillery

In light of the coronavirus crisis, Charleston-based Firefly Distillery has switched from making their signature sweet tea vodka to making hand sanitizer for the masses.

Firefly, the state’s oldest working distillery, will be producing 180 cases with each run and started offering the sanitizer to the public last Friday. According to ABC News4 the distillery is selling half gallons of hand sanitizer on a first come, first serve basis. While the public is limited to one bottle per person (at $25), hospitals, state departments, military and other institutions will be the first to receive Firefly’s hand sanitizer through its office supply distribution.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_C8WrxBY9J/

If you’re interested in purchasing your own, head over to the distillery located at 4201 Spruill Avenue, North Charleston.

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bootcamps

How to Support the Charleston Community During COVID-19

As the coronavirus continues to tear across the country, here are a few ways you can help support Charleston while self-quarantining.

Order Takeout

Restaurants and bars across South Carolina are no longer able to operate with dine-in options under an executive order issued by Gov. Henry McMaster, so be sure to check Charleston City Paper’s comprehensive list of delivery and takeout options. The list has been continually updated and broken up into different areas of town for simple ordering, so get ready to eat!

Donate Blood

The American Red Cross has an ongoing critical need for blood donations during the pandemic to help those affected, as well as other patients. Although many blood drives in Charleston and across the country are being cancelled, the Red Cross urges healthy individuals to schedule an appointment in their area. Click here to see where you can go to help!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-h-q2_hxGe/

STAY HOME!

The easiest thing that we all can do during this time is stay home in order to keep ourselves safe. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster issued a mandatory “home or work” order on Monday requiring that people should stay home unless they are “working, visiting family, exercising outside at a safe distance or obtaining necessary goods or services.” For more information on the order, click here.

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Charleston Fitness Studios Offering Online Workout Classes

Featured Image Source: Charleston City Paper

With a “stay home” order in place by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, several fitness studios in town have modified their business in order to keep customers happy.

Holy Cow Yoga, for example, has implemented virtual classes over Zoom where  teachers and students can interact. These classes are kept at regular times, in an attempt to recreate the feeling of seeing friends in public.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-NqsJdh5Nf/

The Works, billed as “Charleston’s Sweat Studio” has also adopted Zoom-streamed classes, offering limited selections of their yoga and exercise sessions. Another local studio, Mission Yoga, is posting free yoga videos on Facebook and simply encouraging donations via Venmo.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-t89FnhkE1/

For information on more studios that have extended their fitness digitally, as well as class schedules, click here to be taken to Charleston City Paper.

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Santee Cooper South Carolina Coronavirus Funding

Santee Cooper’s Actions Caused Certain Senators To Derail Emergency Coronavirus Funding Legislation

The South Carolina Legislature was called back earlier this week for what was supposed to be a quick one-day session to pass a piece of emergency legislation that would help prevent a government shutdown and provide emergency funding to address the coronavirus crisis. But a familiar roadblock caused that plan to crumble.

While this was expected to be a quick vote, a resolution in the legislation involving Santee Cooper prevented senators from coming to an agreement, while House members decried action taken by Santee Cooper in recent days to deceive the legislature into believing they had negotiated a deal with Central Electric cooperative.

The latest move by Santee Cooper has angered many including Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina CEO, Mike Couick and Speaker of the House Jay Lucas.

Couick was quoted as saying “I grew up watching ACC basketball and Dean Smith mastering the game of four corners. If Santee Cooper is an expert at nothing else, it is an expert at delay, and delay of reform and transformation…”

In a letter to Santee Cooper’s leadership, Speaker Lucas wrote, “If state law gave me or the House of Representatives the authority, I would seek the immediate unqualified removal of each member of the Santee Cooper Board and the dismissal, for cause, of the entire senior management. Unfortunately for the people of South Carolina, I do not have that authority. However, I do predict and will applaud your ultimate removal from your positions in the appropriate manner.”

You can read the full letter from Speaker Lucas here.

The proposed emergency legislation included plans for COVID-19 funding, education funding for teacher salaries, funding to ensure South Carolina primaries can still take place safely on June 9, and other necessary government-funded operations that would allow the state to continue to run in the case that a budget isn’t passed before the start of the next fiscal year.

It also included a provision to postpone the debate on Santee Cooper and prevent the utility from engaging in any long-term contracts of more than a year until the work on what should be done with the state-owned utility is fully explored.

As reported by the AP, Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore apologized for their actions in an email calling the utility’s words ‘presumptive and premature’.

Moreover, Governor McMaster slammed Santee Cooper on Twitter, saying, “There appears to be no tactic or action too deceitful or reckless for the leaders of Santee Cooper to employ,” accusing the utility of exploiting the current pandemic to avoid a sale or any type of reform.

Senators, on the other hand, debated the resolution for over five hours only to come back with an amended resolution that sent it back to the House for review. Certain senators such as Senator Rankin and Senator Grooms refused to approve the emergency legislation needed to keep the state running because of their support for Santee Cooper and did not want to put any limitations on the utility despite their history of mismanagement and lack of transparency.

Currently, there are plans for either the House or Senate to return to take further action.

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Help the Community by Donating to a Blood Center in Charleston

Featured Source Image: The American Red Cross

Looking for a small way to help others during the coronavirus crisis? The American Red Cross has an ongoing critical need for blood donations during the pandemic to help those affected, as well as other patients. Although many blood drives in Charleston and across the country are being cancelled, the Red Cross urges healthy individuals to schedule an appointment in their area to give lifesaving blood, platelets or AB Elite plasma. As always, the organization follows “the highest standards of safety and infection control,” and will protect all volunteers from any possible exposure to infection.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-aM1ySAyKm/

In their own words, the Red Cross has confirmed that donating blood is “one of the most important things you can do to ensure we don’t have another health care crisis on top of coronavirus,” so click here to see where you can go to help.