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Williams re-elected as commissioner to Greer CPW

By Jim Fair, Editor
Published on Tuesday, July 24, 2012

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Perry Williams is the toast of a victory party at his home tonight to celebrate his re-election as commissioner to Greer CPW. David Black shares in the celebration.

Jim Fair

Perry Williams is the toast of a victory party at his home tonight to celebrate his re-election as commissioner to Greer CPW. David Black shares in the celebration.



Enlarge photo

Joe Baldwin, center, reads the results of tonight's Greer CPW election at a victory party at Perry Williams' house. Williams won re-election.

Jim Fair

Joe Baldwin, center, reads the results of tonight's Greer CPW election at a victory party at Perry Williams' house. Williams won re-election.

Incumbent Perry Williams won re-election as commissioner to the Greer Commission of Public Works tonight over challenger Jerry Balding.

Williams beat Balding by 70 votes with Williams’s winning margin at 8.83 percent.. Williams totaled 431 votes to Balding’s 361 of the 793 votes cast.

When Cedar Grove Baptist Church precinct’s votes were reported at 7:35 p.m. it virtually sewed up the outcome. Williams received 82 votes to Balding’s 16. The 62-vote swing for Williams kept his lead to over 5 percent the rest of the evening.

“I’m always humbled by the opportunity to serve and that the citizens of Greer think enough of me to represent them in this position,” Williams said. 

The CPW commissioner’s race pitted Williams, a veteran politician who served on City Council and won his first race for CPW in 2009 in a special election. It was Balding’s first political race. He served as CPW general manager for 21 years before retiring in 2009.

Williams embraced social media and combined it with traditional campaigning of speaking to civic and church groups. His campaign also targeted the "super voters" who are more likely to vote in elections. "I wanted to experiment with social media in this campaign and think there's something to it," Williams said. 

Balding stayed with the traditional campaign of putting his resources into print media, mailings, signage and coupled that with door-to-door visits and hosting greets and meets.

“I’ve certainly been tested and consider it to be a good government when the incumbent is challenged,” Williams said. “I had a lot of help from friends and family who came together and campaigned for me.”

Balding said his support was overwhelming. "My family was very supportive and my friends gave me great support," Balding said. "I believe the voters in Greer looked at my experience and voted for me. I congratulate my opponent and I believe there are some big decisions that will need to be made in the next five years." 

The election was postponed from last November while the City of Greer underwent its redistricting procedure. The election originally included four additional seats, but Mayor Rick Danner and city council members Jay Arrowood, Kimberly Bookert, and Wryley Bettis all filed for re-election and were unopposed, making them the winners according to state law.

The unofficial voting tabulated by the Greenville and Spartanburg counties election bureaus. The ballots were counted at Greer City Hall tonight. There were only one or or two ballots challenged and a recount isn't needed since the margin of victory exceeded one percent.

The results of tonight's election are unofficial until certified by the City of Greer Election Commission Thursday at 9 a.m. at City Hall.

GREENVILLE COUNTY

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry Balding

Perry Williams

Write In

Total

Castle Rock

1

2

 

3

Fox Chase

25

34

 

59

Frohawk

53

40

 

93

Locust Hill

0

0

 

0

O’Neal

1

0

 

1

Sandy Flat

1

8

 

9

Maple Creek

22

18

 

40

Riverside

12

32

1

45

Granite Creek

15

16

 

31

Suber Mill

41

42

 

83

Trade

110

83

 

193

Tyger River

16

18

 

34

Absentee

16

13

 

29

Failsafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPARTANBURG COUNTY

 

 

 

 

Rebirth

10

3

 

13

Cedar Grove

16

82

 

98

Victor Methodist Church

17

29

 

46

Pelham Fire Station

5

10

 

15

Absentee

 

1

 

1

Failsafe

 

 

 

 

Totals

361

431

 

793

 

 

 

 

 

Percentage of votes

45.52

54.35

0.13

100.0

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