Belton Mayor-elect Tiffany Ownbey made history Tuesday. (File, WCIV)   (WPDE) — The South Carolina Republican Party Chairman, Drew McKissick said the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is investigating allegations of ballot harvesting and fraud in Marion County. Renee Wunderlich with SLED also confirmed that they are investigating allegations of ballot harvesting and voter fraud. McKissick released a statement last Monday alleging that a potential illegal ballot harvesting operation is being overseen by Democrats in Marion County. The SCGOP pointed to multiple alleged “red flags” indicating a potential operation: There are 16 voters registered under an address that is currently vacant, one of which is a paid Democrat staffer, according to the SCGOP. In a single precinct, the absentee ballot number reported increased by 844 ballots from the Presidential Primary to the Statewide Primary in June of this year. At least five paid Democrat campaign workers have reported an address on a campaign financial disclosure that is not consistent with their Voter Registration address, per the SCGOP. “What we’ve seen in some places in the past is an organized ballot harvesting ring. It looks like that was probably the case in the Democratic primary. It seems to be, everything that we are hearing now from anonymous sources there in Marion County. Is that the same Operation is at work again. And again, we see that these people, these same people are being paid for by the Democratic campaign there, “ said SCGOP Chairman Drew McKissick. McKissick said they have passed on the information to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and Attorney General Alan Wilson to review the accusations. “It clearly doesn’t smell right. It looks bad. It needs to be looked at and investigated. And we want to put people on notice. That we are going to dig. We are going to find evidence,” said McKissick. The Marion County Democratic Party has posted to social media multiple times about the importance of ensuring safe handling of ballots. Marion County Democratic Party Chairman Deon Taylor said Monday they welcome a SLED investigation. However, Taylor said the Democratic Party has nothing to do with collecting absentee ballots, and the investigation does not involve any illegal acts by the party. ABC15 spoke with Marion County Democratic Party Executive Committee member, Rudolph Bryant last week regarding McKissick’s explosive allegations. Bryant said that they believe in fair and honest elections. He added they were already planning to share evidence and information with SLED about what they learned during protest hearings involving two races in the June primary. “The Marion County Democratic Party abhors the possibility and exercise of cheating in the election process. We are about having free and fair elections just like everybody else. Just like McKissick said in his press release,” said Bryant. Marion County Democratic Party Chairman Deon Taylor said they also sent out letters to those who work with candidates and get absentee ballots, and that a lot has changed regarding the matter. Lawmakers passed the Election Integrity Act in May 2022, in an effort to keep people honest, especially when it comes to absentee ballots. The law only allows you to return five absentee ballots in person to your election office. Kendra Fling filed the protest following her loss to Incumbent, Jerry Richardson. Richardson gained 3,103 votes to beat Kendra Fling, who had 2,799 votes. Fling’s 33-page protest contains sworn statements, witness accounts and evidence detailing allegations with absentee ballots. Her protest reads,”I have substantial reasons to believe that widespread vote harvesting occurred during this election. Multiple reports from credible sources indicate that individuals were collecting and submitting ballots in a manner inconsistent with lawful procedures. Further reports suggest that individuals were collecting ballots and discarding them if they were not for specific candidates. This raises significant concerns about the authenticity and accuracy of the vote count, fundamentally undermining the principle of one person, one vote.” Fling cited the following violations in her protest: Unauthorized individuals collected absentee ballots from voters. Evidence suggests that these ballots were tampered with, improperly filled out, or discarded by individuals other than the registered voters. Several witnesses have come forward with testimonies supporting these claims. The inclusion of invalid ballots in the counting process. However, the hearing panel, which was made of the Marion County Democratic Party Executive Committee voted to uphold the results of the election saying Fling didn’t have enough proof to substantiate her claims. Fling appealed to the S.C. State Democratic Party, who voted to uphold the election results. McKissick said it’s time out for people who cheat and lie to win elections. He added any and all information that they’ve gathered as part of possible, corruption, they’re turning it over to state authorities to investigate. ABC15 has reached out to SLED for comment. Categories: News, Politics, State