No one filed to challenge the three York School District One trustees whose seats are on the November ballot, and all three will return to the board after filing closed at noon Monday.
David McSwain filed for Seat 2, Betty F. Johnson for Seat 4 and Beth Ramsey Faulkner for the at large seat. Each already holds the seat he or she filed for. No other candidate qualified.
York is the only one of York County’s four school districts without a contested race this year. Fort Mill drew seven candidates for four seats, Clover drew eight for four, and Rock Hill drew eight for three after none of its sitting trustees filed for reelection.
A Board That Stays Put
Three of the seven York seats were on the ballot. The board’s other members are Chairman Scott Childers, Wade Anderson, Diane Howell and Chris Revels. With no challengers, the full board carries into next year unchanged.
The trustees who return are among the board’s longer serving members. Faulkner has served as board secretary and Johnson has sat on the board across multiple terms.
The three still appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, and voters cast ballots in the races even without a contest. Seats 2 and 4 cover the downtown area and the northern part of the city of York. The at large seat is voted on by every voter in the district.
How the Election Works
York school board races are nonpartisan. No party label appears next to a candidate’s name and there is no primary, so every qualified candidate goes straight to the Nov. 3 general election. Trustees serve terms of four years, staggered so that only part of the board turns over in a given cycle.
Under Article VI, Section 1 of the South Carolina Constitution, a candidate must be a registered voter in the area the office represents. A person convicted of a felony or an election law offense cannot file for or hold office until 15 years have passed since the sentence was completed, unless the person has been pardoned.
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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.
