Special election for open school board Area 8 seat is Tuesday
Voting will occur at 5 precincts in city; polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If you live in Area 8, Tuesday is a day to mark on your calendar to go to the polls.
It is the day for the required special election to serve the remaining two years of Sen. Jeff Zell's term as Sumter School District's Area 8 representative after he ran for and won the state Senate District 36 seat in the November 2024 general election.
School board seats are nonpartisan races in Sumter County.
Only registered voters in Sumter School District Area 8 are eligible to vote. Early voting closed on Friday, Feb. 7.
Four candidates filed for the seat and include Foxy Rae Campbell, Phil Leventis, Tom Montgomery and Keith Schultz. Their bios can be found in a free story on The Item's website, theitem.com.
School board members' jobs are to provide oversight of local schools and hold their leaders accountable. They are fiscal watchers of the district's budget, approve school curricula, evaluate the superintendent and monitor student progress, among other duties.
Five precincts in Area 8, also referred to as District 8, will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for voting. They include Causeway Branch 1, Ebenezer 2, Green Swamp 1 and 2, St. Paul and Wilson Hall. Eligible voters will not be able to vote at the Sumter County Voter Registration Office in downtown Sumter.
Area 8 in Sumter School District includes the western and northern portions of the City of Sumter. Major roadways include Wilson Hall Road, Loring Mill Road, Patriot Parkway and others.
Sumter County Voter Registration and Elections Director Pat Jefferson encourages Area 8 registered voters to have their photo I.D. ready and available in order to vote at their precinct Tuesday.
Before making the trip to vote, if registered voters are unsure if they reside in Sumter School District Area 8, they can call the county voter registration office on Monday or Tuesday, and staff will verify if they are eligible. The office's phone numbers are (803) 436-2310, -2311, -2312 and -2313.
Jefferson said new county voter registration cards were mailed last year and the school areas, or districts, are located on the bottom of the card on the left side.
If none of the four candidates achieves at least 50% of the vote on Tuesday, then a runoff of the top two vote-getters will occur two weeks later, Jefferson said.
The Item will post election results Tuesday night on its website.
RELATED STORIES:
The Item's interview of the four candidates (from Dec. 18, 2024, edition)