CHAPIN, S.C. — Kim Gilbert and Jennifer G Rice finished first and second in the race for the two Lexington County seats on the Lexington-Richland School District Five Board of Trustees, the side of the district that includes Chapin, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s general election.
Gilbert drew 9,846 votes, or 32.4 percent, and Rice had 9,573 votes, or 31.5 percent. Karena Phelps was third with 7,240 votes, or 23.8 percent, and Blake Justice had 3,611 votes, or 11.9 percent. Write-in votes totaled 157. Voters could pick two names, and 30,427 votes were cast in the race.
Rice finished 2,333 votes ahead of Phelps for the second seat. The Lexington County count showed all 18 precincts in the race reporting when it was last updated at 10:33 p.m. Tuesday.
Rice led among early voters with 5,689 early votes to 5,443 for Gilbert, while Gilbert carried more Election Day ballots, 4,148 to 3,628.
In the Chapin precinct, where 2,550 votes were cast in the race, Gilbert led with 964 votes. Phelps had 695, Rice had 582 and Justice had 297.
On the Richland County side of the district, Michael Reeves and Beth LoPresti led for the two seats. Reeves had 9,403 votes, or 39.3 percent, and LoPresti had 7,977 votes, or 33.4 percent. Terence Rickenbacker had 6,309 votes, or 26.4 percent, and write-ins totaled 218. All 23 precincts in that race had reported when the Richland County count was last updated at 1:41 a.m. Wednesday.
All four seats were open because none of the trustees whose terms end this month ran again. Elizabeth Barnhardt and Mike Satterfield hold the Lexington County seats, and Kevin Scully and Kimberly Snipes hold the Richland County seats.
The board has seven members, and four of them represent the part of the district in Lexington County. Each trustee is elected to a four-year term, and the board picks its chairman, vice chairman and secretary each November.
The results are unofficial until they are certified. Countywide in Lexington County, 116,392 ballots were cast out of 194,215 registered voters, a turnout of 59.93 percent. For the full field of candidates and how the board is set up, see our election-day preview.
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