Pender faces only competition on Rock Hill City Council ballot

One of the Rock Hill City Council’s longest-serving elected officials and one of the council’s newest members will not face political opposition this fall.

Filing closed Friday for three council seats up for re-election. The two incumbents with no competition this year are Councilwoman Sandra Oborokumo, first elected from Ward 1 in 2012 in a no-contest special election to fill a vacant seat; and Councilman Kevin Sutton, first elected in 1994 from Ward 3 as the youngest person ever elected to the council.

One incumbent, Kathy Pender, representing Ward 2, will face a challenger. Erick Woody O’Neal has filed to run against Pender. O’Neal could not be reached for comment this week.

Rock Hill’s Ward 2 includes many neighborhoods along Cherry and Celanese roads – the two busiest thoroughfares in the city. Pender also represents many residents and businesses along India Hook, Ebinport and Mount Gallant roads.

Pender has served as Ward 2’s elected official on the council since 2004. Before that, she served on the Rock Hill school board, including six years as the chair.

All Rock Hill City Council elections are non-partisan. The city’s other three council members and Mayor Doug Echols don’t face re-election until 2017.

While Rock Hill has just one contested race, the competition in some other York County municipalities is even more scarce. By Friday, no one had filed to run for open mayor or town council seats in Hickory Grove and Smyrna.

Light candidate turnout isn’t atypical in local elections, says political scientist Rick Whisonant. Whisonant teaches government and history classes at York Technical College.

Residents, he said, are often inspired to run against elected council members or mayors when there’s strong discontent on one or more local issues. “In small towns, it’s very difficult to get people to run.”

Rock Hill, with nearly 70,000 residents, is the county’s largest city and the fifth-largest in South Carolina.

Even with a sizable and growing population, Rock Hill may see light competition on its ballots because people are happy with the way things are being done, Whisonant said.

And, he added, name recognition in local elections matters greatly because candidates file as non-partisan, meaning candidates aren’t running as Democrat or Republican.

Rock Hill’s City Council Ward 2 election will be held Oct. 20. No election will be held in Wards 1 and 3 unless a write-in candidate declares his or her campaign by Sept. 4 to the York County Elections and Voter Registration Office.

Candidate filing for other local elections in York County closes at 5 p.m. Sept. 4. Those towns include McConnells, Hickory Grove, Smyrna, Clover, Tega Cay and York. In Fort Mill, candidates have until noon Sept. 4 to file.

If no candidates file by the deadline in a race, the towns will hold an open write-in election where anyone who receives the most votes – even if it’s only one – will be duly elected to a full term.

Candidates for all seats should file at the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of York County, 13 S. Congress St., York.

Herald reporter Bristow Marchant contributed

This story was originally published August 21, 2015 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Pender faces only competition on Rock Hill City Council ballot."