Candidate filing for four Lancaster County School District Board of Trustees seats opens at noon Monday and closes at noon Monday, Aug. 17. There is no filing fee.
Seats representing Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 will be on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Trustees serve terms of four years and are paid $870 a month, or $10,440 a year.
The races are nonpartisan. Candidates do not declare a party, no party label appears beside a name on the ballot, and there is no primary. Everyone who qualifies advances directly to the November ballot.
Where to file
Filing is done at the Lancaster County Voter Registration and Elections Office in the County Administration Building at 101 North Main Street in Lancaster. The office can be reached at 803.285.2969.
Candidate forms and instructions are posted at scvotes.gov, the South Carolina Election Commission website. Nonpartisan candidates file a Statement of Intention of Candidacy. Candidates are also required to file a Statement of Economic Interests electronically with the State Ethics Commission and may be required to file campaign disclosure reports.
To hold the office, a candidate must be a registered voter in the area the seat represents.
What the board does
The Lancaster County School District board hires and evaluates the superintendent, adopts the annual budget that sets the school portion of local property tax bills, approves school construction and attendance line changes, and sets district policy.
What comes next
The filing window runs two weeks. After it closes at noon Aug. 17, the elections office will publish the certified list of candidates for each seat.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Voter registration deadlines, early voting dates and sample ballots are posted at lancastercountysc.gov and scvotes.gov.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
