COASTAL OBSERVER

Bill Ringer waited outside the polls at Waccamaw Intermediate School for voters to arrive Tuesday morning. More than half of those who would vote in the primary elections had already cast their ballots, so foot traffic was light.

“I can win this with 900 votes,” Ringer said.

He was remarkably accurate for someone making his first run for elected office.

Ringer won the GOP nomination in Georgetown County Council District 6 by 898 votes. He unseated the first-term Council Member Stella Mercado with 68.4 percent of the vote.

Having no political background, Ringer said he leaned heavily on his team, who were all volunteers, for their advice and experience. 

“Their heart was in it. They were concerned about their own neighborhoods, not just concerned about getting a paycheck,” he said.

They were also energized by a series of votes by Mercado on land use issues, including some that led to legal challenges by neighbors and the citizens group Keep It Green, which backed Ringer.

Mercado, who could not be reached for comment, said during the campaign that her votes have led to reduced residential density through an updated zoning ordinance.

She highlighted Ringer’s role as a member of the group drafting a plan to form a town in the 29585 ZIP code.

One voter at Pawleys Island Precinct 2 said he doesn’t care if the area incorporates, but that the people should vote on it. 

“We should have a choice,” he said. 

Another voter said she was concerned about overdevelopment and how “knocking down all the woods” would affect the area where she has lived for 20 years.

Denise Bath, one of Ringer’s campaign volunteers, said the vote was never about incorporation, but about density, zoning and improving infrastructure. 

“This isn’t about incorporation. This is about zoning. This is about making Pawleys Island not become a Murrells Inlet, or a Myrtle Beach,” she said.

The decision was sealed during the 10 days of early voting that ended last Friday. Ringer was already ahead 944-384 before in-person voting began. He won the Election Day vote 710-379.

Just over 55 percent of the votes were cast early or with absentee ballots.

Mary Beth Klein, one of the founders of Keep it Green, said they refused to be discouraged, despite what they were up against. 

“On a shoestring, we have said we don’t have the money that Stella has had. We don’t have the backing of developers,” Klein said. “But what we have is our feet, and we have our time and our talent, and we’re going to take it to the streets as a grassroots campaign.” 

Klein added that the community’s teamwork was reflected in the results and gave her renewed hope after feeling dismissed by County Council in the past.

“We have a future that we can grab from it. Not their vision versus what people really want. We can come together and have a dialogue,” she said. “That’s how our government, that’s how the democratic process, is supposed to be.” 

Ringer will face a Democrat, Vincent Davis, in November. The Democratic Party primary in the two largest precincts in Council District 6, Pawleys 1 and Pawleys 2, drew 724 voters. The GOP primary drew 1,974.