Richland County statement on Gov. Haley’s Executive Order

Following is a statement from Richland County on the Executive Order from Gov. Nikki Haley regarding Kelvin Washington:

Richland County received a copy of Governor Haley’s Executive Order issued today (March 16) vacating the County Council seat held by Kelvin Washington.

While this action will temporarily leave the residents of District 10 without representation, those who call Lower Richland home can be assured their concerns will continue to be addressed by the County.

The residents of District 10 must decide who will be their next representative. A special election must be held to fill the remainder of the term. The details of that process, including the dates for filing, the holding of any primaries and the election, are forthcoming.

The County also was provided with a copy of a request for a South Carolina Attorney General’s Opinion on whether the Governor has the authority to declare a public office vacant under the circumstances described in that request. That letter is dated March 8, 2016. Finally, we were provided with a copy of the Attorney General’s response to that request, and that response is dated March 16, 2016.

All three of documents provided to the County are matters of public record, and links to them are available on the County’s website. (As the Executive Order and the request for the Attorney General’s Opinion came from the Governor’s Office, and the Attorney General issued the Opinion, questions about those documents should be addressed to those state officials and their offices.)

The resiliency of Richland County’s residents over the past several months as we continue to recover from the historic October 2015 flooding has been extraordinary.  Lower Richland, among the hardest hit areas from the flood, faces a new challenge as it awaits the opportunity to elect its next representative, and the County will be especially mindful of District 10 during this time.