COASTAL OBSERVER

In the digital age, candidates for Georgetown County Council District 6 are relying on the most analog of campaign tools.

“I’ve been going door to door with members of my team. That’s basically what we’re going to do the rest of the week,” said Bill Ringer, who is challenging the incumbent in next week’s GOP primary. “Every place we went, Stella had been.”
Council Member Stella Mercado had gone to 971 of an estimated 2,100 Republican-leaning homes in the district by Tuesday, a week before the primary and a week after the start of early voting. She plans to visit a few hundred more in the time left in the campaign.

“It’s very rewarding,” Mercado said. “I’ve had people welcome me into their homes.”

Although she has served one term on the council, she ran without opposition in 2022. Other than a couple of fundraisers ahead of the filing period, she didn’t need to do any campaigning. Mercado said she has enjoyed the experience.

This is Ringer’s first run for office. He said he has also enjoyed being out in the neighborhoods. “We’re encountering a welcoming response,” he said. “Most people say they’ve already voted or will vote for me.”

Across the county, 4,212 early votes were cast as of Tuesday. More than half, 2,242, were cast at the Waccamaw Regional Rec Center, which is in District 6, although any county voter can cast a ballot there.  (On Tuesday, only voters in the Pawleys Island 2 precinct will vote at the rec center.)

Stella Mercado, center, cuts the ribbon at the Stables Park dog run.

Different issues

While the candidates are sharing the same experience, they are coming away with different messages.

“People are concerned about density. They’re concerned about population growth,” said Ringer, who says that’s the result of the votes Mercado took on land use issues during her term.

The concerns are real, Mercado said, but people feel better when she explains that the county cut the top limit on multi-family developments in “general residential” zoning districts from 16 to five units per acre. She said she also explains that the zoning is what controls what gets built rather than the future land use map in the county’s comprehensive plan.

“Once they see the actual, real map instead of the fake map,” Mercado said, “they absolutely 100 percent understand the difference.”

What she said voters are more concerned about is a proposal to form a municipality between Brookgreen Gardens and DeBordieu.  She opposes the incorporation effort.

Ringer was a member of the Pawleys Litchfield Municipal Study Group, which collected signatures on petitions last year to hold a referendum on incorporation and explained its proposal for a new town at a series of public forums. He said people do ask about it on the campaign trail.

“Each day it does seem to come up less and less often,” Ringer said. “What this is about is your ability to vote for your own future.”

He added that people who don’t support incorporation have said they support him.

Mercado said she has had Democrats, who have a primary for statewide offices, tell her they would vote for her in the GOP primary because of her opposition to a new town.

“Everyone understands the concern with incorporation,” she said. “They understand it has a lot to do with District 6.”

“If it weren’t for my opponent and her partner on County Council, incorporation wouldn’t be an issue,” said Ringer, referring to District 1 Council Member Clint Elliott.

He pointed out that the study group got about 3,000 signatures on its petitions, more than the number it needed, although he didn’t know how many were from District 6. “Incorporation is not the dirty word she would like to make it,” Ringer said.

Ringer’s financial support comes from the study group and the citizens group Keep It Green, Mercado said. “The numbers don’t lie.”

Campaign finances

Ringer got a $1,000 donation from Andy Hallock, who chaired the study group before stepping down this spring. It was also his first donation, according to his filing with the S.C. Ethics Commission. He also got $1,000 from Marlajean Hamby, a member of the Planning Commission.
Overall, he raised $8,311 from 46 donors, including five who gave addresses outside District 6.

Mercado raised $8,600 from 25 donors, 16 with addresses outside the district. She got $1,000 donations from Nate Fata, an attorney, and from Kevin Corrigan, president of the Litchfield Beaches Property Owners Association, and his wife, Delia.

The difference in the financial position of the two campaigns comes from the $9,900 loan Mercado made to hers.

“Every one of my donors is a household. There are no special interests. I didn’t have to use my own money,” said Ringer, who loaned his campaign $500. “I’m very comfortable with our campaign finances.”

When she first ran for council, Mercado said she loaned her campaign $10,000.

“Anytime you have a business, you invest in yourself. Anytime you go to college, you invest in yourself,” she said. “If you don’t put your own skin in the game, how do you expect others to?”

Mercado hired Tom Swatzel, a political consultant and former District 1 council member, to run her campaign.

Ringer said he has a volunteer campaign team of 12 people. He said he doesn’t have a manager as such, but one person who “sets meeting agendas, but is a partner.” He said that partner wanted to remain anonymous “because of other commitments and relationships.”

He is responsible for all decisions, Ringer added.

Complaints at poll

That includes the decision to cut short campaigning outside the rec center during early voting.  

Ringer set up two chairs by the door when the polls opened. He had injured his left leg and propped it up on a small cooler. His wife and Jim Register were with him. Ringer said he planned to greet voters daily. The county office of Voter Registration and Elections began getting calls.

“The first few didn’t like the fact that Ringer was there,” said Aphra McCrea, director of Registration and Elections. “He can legally campaign within 500 feet.”

The calls continued,  and McCrea asked Ringer if he could limit his campaign to two people. She also told him that he was the only one who could have a badge with the candidate’s name.

“All was well for about an hour,” McCrea said.

Eventually, she got three complaints from voters who said they felt intimidated. “I felt like they were legitimate complaints,” McCrea said.

Ringer said he doesn’t know the source of the complaints, but he has his suspicions. “It was kind of reverse intimidation,” he said. “In no case were we intimidating voters.”

Mercado said she heard complaints, too, and referred them to the elections office. “I stayed out of that,” she said.

McCrea said she decided that Ringer needed to leave the polling place. Ringer told her he had already made that decision.

“I called it off and told Ms. McCrea that we would campaign door to door,” he said.

And that’s where the primary campaign will play out for both candidates. In November, the winner will face a Democrat, Vincent Davis, in the general election.

The polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. To check your registration, find your polling place and view a sample ballot, go to scvotes.gov.

Correction: This article was corrected from the print edition, where the caption on the accompanying photo said Bill Ringer was at the left. He is seated at the right.