By admin 
As South Carolina voters head to the polls for early voting in the Republican special primary for U.S. Senate, the state Supreme Court ruled Danny Ford II can stay on the ballot to replace the late Lindsey Graham in the November election.
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Ford, an Upstate farmer and son of the former Clemson football coach, argued the state Republican Party illegally kept him off the U.S. Senate special primary ballot. Circuit Judge Daniel Coble ruled Tuesday that election officials had to add Ford to as many ballots as possible.
The South Carolina GOP and state Election Commission appealed the ruling the state Supreme Court separately Tuesday afternoon. The Supreme Court issued its order Wednesday, the first day of early voting for the Aug. 11 primary.
“While we do not reach the merits of Ford’s challenge to the Party’s rule or the application thereof, in an effort to avoid further confusion surrounding this special primary election, we are constrained to deny the motions to stay the circuit court’s preliminary injunction and permit the election, which is already underway, to continue without further disruption,” reads an order from the state Supreme Court posted Wednesday afternoon.
The high court said it plans to evaluate the South Carolina Republican Party’s appeal at a later time. Removing Ford’s name from the ballot at this time would cause further “disarray,” the Supreme Court determined.
Ford was not certified by the state Republican Party after filing closed July 28. Ford, who also ran a failed bid for agriculture commissioner this year, did not fulfill a new state GOP rule passed in June requiring candidates campaigning as Republicans to have voted in at least two of the previous three party primaries.
The rule is intended to only allow dedicated Republicans to run in the party’s primaries and keep out “Trojan horse candidacies,” a lawyer for the state GOP wrote in its appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court.
The state Election Commission and South Carolina GOP both asked the Supreme Court to halt Coble’s ruling to avoid voter confusion. But early voting began Wednesday morning with a legal requirement for Ford to appear on ballots, less than a day after the parties’ appeals and Coble’s decision.
Coble’s order essentially created two different ballots: one with Ford and one without Ford. Absentee and military and overseas ballots had already been sent out, beginning July 29, Election Commission attorney Thomas Nicholson told Coble during a Monday morning hearing.
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“In short, changing the ballot when an election is already underway only invites chaos,” wrote attorneys for the state GOP in its appeal. “Voter confusion and burdens on election administration are not theoretical. They are profound.”
The state Election Commission asked the state Supreme Court to make a same-day decision Tuesday to avoid potentially placing Ford on the ballot, which required heavy-lifting on the part of county officials. A decision had not been made in time before early voting began at 8:30 Wednesday morning statewide.
“Here, under an already condensed special election schedule, compressing this process into the hours between the circuit court’s order and the opening of early voting has introduced a real risk of administrative error affecting every voter in the primary,” the state Election Commission wrote in its appeal.
All 46 counties were able to adjust the ballots in time for early voting, a spokesperson for the Election Commission said.
The ballot change required counties to redo and retest voting machines, a typically lengthy process that counties had less than a day to complete.
“We don’t skip any steps,” said Amy Sams, the election director in Pickens County. The county brought in more workers to complete testing and be ready for early voting to begin at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sams said.
Early voting runs through Aug. 7, and the special primary is Aug. 11. Ford will run against nine other hopefuls, including U.S. Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, Upstate businessman Mark Lynch and former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford.
Walterboro attorney Duke Buckner, Upstate farmer Danny Ford II, former Myrtle Beach mayor Mark McBride, retired budget analyst Glenda Gail Parker and Lexington County biologist Samuel Shepherd are also running.
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