Chester City Councilwoman elect has resigned from her position

Dana Peay, who was elected to the Chester City Council Tuesday, has informed the city she will be resign from the position.

Peay ran unopposed in the May 4 election and was set to fill the open Ward 2 seat. She had not yet been sworn in to the council.

The election results were certified Thursday. Peay informed the city council of her resignation on Friday, City Administrator Stephanie Jackson confirmed.

City Councilwoman Robbie Boyd-King had challenged Peay’s qualification for the council, based on Peay holding a North Carolina driver’s license.

“I resigned because I thought I would bring something to Chester, but it seems like the focus was about my residence and my license, not about what I could bring to the city council of Chester,” Peay told The Herald.

A special election will be held to fill the Ward 2 seat, Chester Supervisor of Elections Karen Roach said. A date has not been decided.

The Herald reported Thursday that following the election, the city of Chester would have its first all-Black city council. This still will be true as Councilwoman Angela Douglas, who has filled the seat since 2015, will continue to serve until the special election.

“I will continue on as a council member until such a time we have a newly-elected, qualified, and sworn in successor,” Douglas said in a statement.

Douglas had previously said she was not seeking reelection because she wanted to focus on “personal and professional goals.”

Challenges to election

Peay’s candidacy was challenged by King-Boyd at Thursday’s election certification.

King-Boyd brought forward a complaint that Peay had used a North Carolina driver’s license to vote in the election.

Peay told The Herald she had recently moved from North Carolina and had misplaced her South Carolina license, so she used her North Carolina license to vote in the city election.

She had used a South Carolina license to register for her candidacy.

King-Boyd argued that Peay could not hold a license in both states. “She should not have been allowed to be a candidate,” King-Boyd told The board.

The Chester Election Commission certified Peay’s candidacy and her vote in the election, but King-Boyd appealed to the State Election Commission, Roach said. A hearing had been set for Tuesday but was canceled after Peay resigned.

This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 3:59 PM.