Elections
District 6 winner ready to start building ties with school board
Jarrod Ownbey will sit in the audience today at the Georgetown County School Board retreat. He will take his seat with the board members next month.
But he is ready to build relationships with the other eight members. “That’s the important part. To do that, we have to start from the ground floor,” he said.
Ownbey will fill the District 6 seat on the board, following Tuesday’s special election. He must wait 10 days after the election is certified today to be sworn in.
The election drew 648 voters, 7.8 percent of those registered. Ownbey, an attorney with two children in Waccamaw schools, won 49.1 percent of the vote over Jon Tester, a retired district administrator, who had 40.3 percent. A third candidate in the non-partisan election, Alex Belser, got 10.4 percent of the vote.
There were two write-in votes: one absentee and another at Pawleys 2.
“We put in a lot of hard work trying to reach out to everybody, and I think it paid off,” Ownbey said. “It’s hard not to feel blessed and just a little bit humbled.”
The candidates ran to fill the unexpired term of Kristie Baxley, who was elected in November and resigned in February. The special election date was set according to state law.
Skip Van Bloem, the poll manager at the Waccamaw Recreation Center, said the turnout was decent for a special election in July.
“We’re happy with the flow we’re getting because it shows that people are interested in the election,” he said.
James and Susan Graves of Pawleys Island said they felt it was important to have an opinion on who should be on the school board.
“Education’s important. It has been all our lives and still is and always will be for our children and grandchildren,” James said, who substitute teaches and helps coach softball at Waccamaw High School. “It’s always fun being around the kids, and kids are No. 1.”
Stella Mercado, the County Council member for District 6, shared her support for Ownbey on Facebook the day before.
“He’s in a younger demographic, which I also think is really imporant,” Mercado said. “He’s got everything.”
County Council is required by law to redraw its election districts after every federal census. The current map was approved in February of 2022.
“They’re not eligible to vote, but they’ve been very patient understanding that,” Van Bloem said.
Over a dozen people showed up to the Murrells Inlet polling location but a majority of them were not eligible to vote in District 6.
“There seems to be some confusion on who is actually voting in this and who’s not,” said Denver Gordon, the inlet’s poll manager.
George Kliment of Murrells Inlet stopped by around noon on Election Day but not to cast a vote. He came to ask about smoke detectors.
“I had no idea this was even going on,” he said. “The only reason I was turned down is because I live north of this district.”
