By Shellie Murdaugh
The Island News
The Town of Ridgeland is in the process of transferring the town’s elections to the Jasper County Board of Elections and Voter Registration due to a new state law going into effect this January, Town of Ridgeland Clerk Penny Daley said.
Ridgeland Town Council approved first reading of an ordinance during its Thursday, Nov. 5 meeting which includes eliminating its municipal election commission and all of the responsibilities held by the commission. Council will have second reading for final approval of the ordinance during its Thursday, Nov. 19 meeting.
The Town of Ridgeland’s current election commission consists of four members, including Roy Hughes, who was serving as chairman; Carmen Pinckney, Sharon Shay, and Daley, also the election clerk.
The town is being required to turn over its elections to the county due to a recently passed bill, South Carolina Bill H.3556. The bill was signed into law by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on May 19, 2026, and will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
“The state has deemed the towns have to have a population of 10,000 or greater to have its own election commission,” Daley said.
The Town of Ridgeland, according to the latest U.S. Census numbers, has 3,760 people.
Daley said the only difference when the county resides over the town’s elections will be the town’s election commission had been the ones who had certified the candidates for elections and heard any issues concerning its elections when needed. This will now be handled by the county.
Voting for offices in the town had been conducted at the Ridgeland Town Hall for a number of years before the voting locations for town elections was recently changed to two other different locations by the state, Daley said. The change, Daley said, was due to the increase in town’s population.
Those casting their ballots in Ridgeland have been using the precincts that were first established for county elections and later used by the town for its elections. The precincts will remain the same for future town elections. Voters cast their ballots in three Ridgeland precincts and two precincts in Grahamville.
“During our last election in November of 2025, we had 120 voters and the election cost was $10,000,” Daley said. “The increase in costs was due to moving from town hall to other locations and more workers.”
In November of last year, the town had 1,451 registered voters.
The next scheduled election for the Town of Ridgeland will be Nov. 2, 2027, when two council seats and the mayor’s seat will be up for election.
Shellie Murdaugh, who joined The Island News in October 2026, formerly worked as a reporter for The Jasper County Sun Times and Bluffton Today. She also worked for newspapers in Hampton and Colleton counties in South Carolina and in North Carolina at The Richmond County Daily Journal. She can be reached at shelliemurdaugh@gmail.com.