Voters in Society Hill, S.C.—a town of roughly 500 people in the northern part of the state—will return to the polls for the third time in one month on Dec. 2, to decide the outcome of their mayoral race after two rounds of runoffs.

Cecil Graham and Councilmember Kevin Long appeared on the ballot in the general election on Nov. 4, but neither candidate received a majority vote, as is required under the town’s charter. Graham led with 61 votes to Long’s 51, but 50 additional votes went to write-in candidates.

As a result, the race advanced to a runoff on Nov. 18 between just Graham and Long. This ended in a tie, with both candidates receiving 76 votes, necessitating the second runoff on Dec. 2.

While unique, this is not rare in Society Hill. The 2021 mayoral race similarly required two runoffs before the race was finally decided.

Most municipal elections in South Carolina fall into one of four categories:

• Nonpartisan general election and runoffs: all candidates appear on the same general election ballot. If no candidate receives a majority vote, the top vote-getters advance to a later runoff, like in Society Hill;
• Nonpartisan plurality: all candidates appear on the same general election ballot and the candidate who gets the most votes wins, regardless of if they win a majority;
• Nonpartisan primary and general election: all candidates run in an earlier primary, which narrows down the field ahead of the general election; or,
• Partisan elections: candidates run with specific party labels, nominated in things like primaries or conventions, before appearing on the general election ballot.

Municipalities also establish procedures for resolving tie votes. In some cases, they are decided with a coin toss. According to the Darlington County Elections Department, Society Hill conducts successive runoffs until a candidate wins by a majority or concedes.

Ballotpedia covered 409 elections in South Carolina on Nov. 4 as part of our expanded local election coverage. Of those, 19 resulted in a runoff on Nov. 18, with the Society Hill mayoral race the only one to require a second runoff on Dec. 2.