One of the candidate’s in last week’s Silverstreet Town Council special balloting voiced protest over the town’s election process.

During a meeting to certify Tuesday’s special election, candidate Ron Bowers contested the election.

Bowers said he voted on an absentee ballot for the election. On that absentee ballot, voters were instructed to chose two from the four candidates. But during voting Tuesday, voters were instructed to choose one candidate from each of two separate races for the two seats.

Director of the Election Commission Brenda Rogers said Thursday she did not realize until the day before polls opened that the two seats had different terms, with one expiring 2010 and the other 2012. The election process was changed at that point.

Although the seats are “at-large” seats, as the town does not divide its Town Council into districts, the filing for the seats was completed at different times. On election day, the races were separated by who filed to fill each seat, which were vacated by resignations at differing times.

Only three absentee ballots were cast in the election, with Bowers reporting that two of the three were submitted by he and his wife. Three votes is the margin by which Bowers fell to Michael Bouknight in the race.

Bowers also complained that candidate Johnnie Wix worked for the Newberry County Water and Sewer Commission and as a county employee should not have been allowed to run.

The commission members explained that county employees can run for public offices. In addition, the Water and Sewer Authority is not part of the county government, but instead South Carolina has “special districts” set up to govern those authorities.

In the end, the commission certified the election, with Bouknight defeating Bowers, 25 to 22.

In the race for the other seat, Gerald Dominick defeated Wix 31 to 14.

In the election 48, or 39 percent, of the town’s possible 123 voters cast a ballot.