Sheriel Perkins said today she can’t determine whether she’ll challenge the results of Greenwood’s mayoral election until she has inspected the ballot boxes.
The defeated Democratic nominee said she will examine the boxes and ballots next Thursday at City Hall in an effort to make sure that everything is “kosher and correct.”
She appeared to be backing away somewhat from her concession Thursday to incumbent Carolyn McAdams.
After the final results were released by the Greenwood Election Commission showing McAdams with a 206-vote victory in Tuesday’s general election, Perkins walked over to the winner, shook her hand, smiled and said congratulations.
In an interview immediately afterward with the Commonwealth, Perkins said she would not challenge the election results but would inspect the ballots to make sure there were no mistakes or wrongdoing.
“I feel good,” Perkins said just after the remaining affidavit ballots were counted. “We ran a strong campaign. I think it caught on. We just didn’t get the numbers.”
In the final, official tally, McAdams, an independent, received 2,618 votes, or 52 percent of the total cast. Perkins received 2,412 votes, or 48 percent.
Perkins, 58, was trying to reclaim the seat she lost to McAdams in 2009. The former mayor said she thought the difference came down in large part to voter turnout.
“Although we did have a lot of people, we could always have had more. You can always have more,” she said.
McAdams has said that this election would be her last, but Perkins was uncertain about whether she’d run for the office again.
“I can’t answer that right now,” she said. “I love my city of Greenwood, and I still feel like I have a lot to offer, but I can’t say.”
McAdams, 66, reached out to Perkins’ supporters in a post on her Facebook page Thursday after the final results were announced.
McAdams wrote, “Now that the election is over, I am looking forward to continuing our good work in Greenwood. Whether you voted for me or not, I am still your mayor and I will work hard every day to make Greenwood a town you are proud to call home!”
McAdams said this morning she would continue to feel confident about her win even if Perkins does choose to challenge it. A candidate has up to 20 days after the election to file a challenge in circuit court.
The mayor pointed out that in 2005, when Perkins successfully challenged then-Mayor Harry Smith’s re-election, the margin of votes was slight, just six votes.
“These votes are a little higher in margin than they were then,” said McAdams.
Even while the final paper ballots were being counted Thursday, McAdams said she never felt uneasy about the outcome. The math was done, she said, “even if (Perkins) had gotten every one of the (remaining) votes.”
Of the 160 affidavit and curbside ballots, Perkins received 108 and McAdams 52.
The mayor said she is confident that, if a challenge is filed, there will be no wrongdoing found in the North Greenwood wards where she received the bulk of her votes.
“I feel very comfortable about that,” said McAdams. “We’ve never had any discrepancies. We feel very good that the people voted and cast their votes correctly.”
As for the South Greenwood wards that went heavily for Perkins, McAdams said she felt “kind of uncertain” about how people were brought to the polls to vote.
“I saw things that maybe weren’t done properly,” she said. “I had to make sure that the people bringing assisted voters in did not speak for the voter unless they were asked to. How much of that was going on, I have no idea. That’s why you have poll watchers and poll managers.”
