Government

Republican incumbent Deborah A. Long won the S.C. House District 45 seat over Democrat Mary L. Bernsdorff in Tuesday's general election.
According to unofficial results from the Lancaster and York County Election Commissions, Long won 65 percent of the vote, which was 10,272 votes. Bernsdorff trailed at 35 percent with 5,522 votes.
In Lancaster County, Long received 6,974 votes or 61 percent of the vote, compared to Bernsdorff's 4,518 votes, or 39 percent of the vote.

Pat Latour urged Lancaster County Council last week to move forward with plans for an Indian Land Fire Protection District.
The Indian Land resident was one of many supporters, and a few detractors, who spoke at council’s Oct. 26 meeting about the creation of a potential special tax district in Indian Land.
The idea was introduced by members of grass-roots organization Indian Land Action Council, several of whom also attended the meeting, as a way to generate revenue for the Indian Land Volunteer Fire Department.

If the preliminary numbers are an accurate indicator, the voters in S.C. House District 44 are returning retired educator Jimmy Neal to the state General Assembly for his sixth full term.
Neal, a Democrat, garnered 5,115 votes to Republican newcomer Rob McCoy’s 3,718 votes. If the numbers hold up, that means Neal got about 58 percent of the votes to McCoy’s 42 percent.
Neal was the top vote-getter in 13 of the 18 precincts that encompass S.C. House District 44.

It looks like Joe Shaw will continue his stint as the city of Lancaster’s longest-serving mayor.
At press time Tuesday night, Shaw had garnered nearly 59 percent of the vote, in what was the only four-person contest for local voters this year.
All results are unofficial, as Lancaster County election officials weren’t able to electronically download voting results from the county’s precincts. The Lancaster News was able to obtain unofficial results from paper printouts available to election officials.