Charleston County verifies signatures

All of the candidates who filed to run for a seat on the Charleston County School Board will be eligible to do so.

Candidates were required to submit petitions with signatures of registered voters to earn a spot on the ballot, and the Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration has finished verifying those signatures.

None of the school board candidates was disqualified, said Sheryl Mishoe, special services coordinator for the county board office.

Candidates are elected by the entire county but must reside in certain areas. Three downtown residents, incumbent Toya Hampton Green, college professor Robert Russell and library manager Marvin Stewart, will compete for a downtown seat. Three candidates, former teacher Elizabeth Kandrac, appliance business owner Chris Collins and retired major and teacher Mattese Lecque, will run for two North Charleston seats; and four candidates, former state lawmaker John Graham Altman, incumbent David Engelman, commercial real estate broker and developer Chris Fraser and former principal Ann Oplinger, will vie for two West Ashley seats.

Filing for five seats on the Berkeley County School Board opened Friday and will remain open until noon Aug. 15. Candidates are elected by district, and the open seats are in Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.

In Dorchester District 2, incumbents Bo Blanton and Carolyn Howard filed for re-election, and they will run against five newcomers for three school board seats. Other candidates are mortgage banker and former teacher Jay Byars, Berkeley County teacher Barbara Crosby, insurance claim investigator Michael Hess, registered nurse Patrick Labbe and bookkeeper Lisa Tupper. The elections are nonpartisan and districtwide, so the three highest vote-getters win.

Three seats are open in Dorchester District 4, and the three incumbents — Tony Folk, James Hodges and Kenneth Jenkins — filed for re-election without opposition.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.