Voting opens at 6:30 a.m. in Polk’s three towns; Landrum opens at 7 a.m.

POLK COUNTY/LANDRUM—Residents of area towns have the opportunity to get out and vote Tuesday. 

Elections are being held for the towns of Columbus and Tryon and cities of Saluda and Landrum, as well as the Spartanburg County School District One and Landrum Fire District. 

Polls are open for Columbus, Tryon and Saluda Councils from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. Landrum area voters have from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. to cast their votes. 

Early voting ended Friday for Polk County municipal residents. A total of 155 votes were cast early this year. There were 66 early votes in Columbus, 24 early votes in Saluda and 65 early votes in Tryon, according to the Polk County Board of Elections. 

Columbus registered voters can vote at Columbus Town Hall, Saluda registered voters can vote at the Saluda Fire Department and Tryon registered voters can vote at the Harmon Field Cabin. 

Landrum voters can vote at the United Methodist Church in Landrum. 

Columbus will have the biggest race for council this year, with three open seats and six people filing. Current Columbus Mayor Eric McIntyre did not file for re-election, with Patrick McCool filing and running unopposed. 

Along with McCool filing for mayor, incumbent council members Richard Hall, Margaret Metcalf and Mark Phillips also filed. Ernie Kan, Brent Jackson and Steve E. Christopher filed to challenge the incumbents for the three open council seats. 

Saluda will also have a race for two open council seats. Saluda had three people file for the seats. Incumbent commissioners Stanley Walker and Leon Morgan both filed to retain their seats, along with challenger Robert “Bob” Ross. 

Tryon has an open mayor seat and two open council seats. The incumbents were the only ones to file, but there is a write-in candidate campaigning for an open council seat. Incumbent mayor Alan Peoples filed to retain his seat along with incumbent commissioners Cry Armbrust and Chrelle Booker filing to retain their seats. Heidi Selbee is campaigning as a write-in candidate. 

There will be slots for the municipal election for write-in candidates. As long as the write-in candidate is a registered voter in the jurisdiction, the vote will count. The municipal write-in law is different from county and state elections, where the write-in candidate must be a qualified candidate by a petition. 

Landrum’s municipal election does not have a race this year as only incumbents filed for re-election. Candidates include Joyce Whiteside, Johnny Carruth and Shannon Dotson, who all filed to retain their seats. 

Spartanburg County District One School Board does have a race this year. 

For District One School Board, 10 candidates filed for four open seats. Incumbents Lori Walter, Gordon T. Lee, Brenda Rogers and Travis K. Sloan are being challenged by Randy Bryant, Billy Cothran III, Warren O’Sullivan, Shannon Daugherty, Tim F. Williams and Bo Cantrell. 

Saluda also has a special referendum on the ballot this year regarding alcohol sales. 

The referendum will ask Saluda voters if they are for or against permitting the sale of mixed beverages in hotels, restaurants, private clubs, community theatres and convention centers. 

See election results Tuesday night at tryondailybulletin.com and in Wednesday’s edition of the paper.