Update on candidate’s residency

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In: Government, Letter to Editor
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I wanted to update readers on my challenge to Phyllis Coleman’s Irmo residency issues. 

A hearing was held at Lexington County Election Commission on 11/22/23 with LCEC determining Phyllis Coleman met their minimum requirements that they are allowed to verify, which are not the same as SLED has to verify with their investigation I turned in on 10/26/23.

  1. She claimed at the hearing she moved into 7336 Mowers Street Irmo on 12/16/2018 when her mother fell and she never lived at 1211 Hyatt Avenue since that date.
  2. She also stated she lived at 7336 Mowers Street Irmo on 11/2/2020 with new employment with work-from-home capabilities, all the time.
  3. She stated she will change her legal residence from 1211 Hyatt Avenue Columbia (which she just admitted she hadn’t lived in since 2018, 2020) once she gets the deed at Mowers Street in her name.  State law Section 12-43-220(c)(2)(i)(ii) states that you are allowed six months to inform the tax assessor’s office after you no longer legally live at an old address. And states you are swearing to live at said address (1211 Hyatt Ave) you claimed a 4% legal resident tax rate when you pay the lower 4% tax rate (this could be considered tax fraud and perjury).
  4. She voted in Richland County City of Columbia precincts Ward 31 elections in November 2022.  (possible voter fraud) You can’t vote in an election you are not a resident of, and she claimed to have lived in Irmo since 2018, 2020.
  5. She only registered to vote in Irmo on 8/11/23.
  6. Changed her driver’s license to an Irmo address on 8/17/23.
  7. Filed to run in Irmo on 8/28/23.
  8. Intermittent power usage at 7336 Mower Street which typically means vacancy or low occupancy use.
  9. Was told there was current remodeling going on after all these years of living in the house since 2018, and only doing repairs now after the election, makes me wonder why she didn’t do repairs earlier, and if she hadn’t gotten election would she be doing the repairs, or moving back to Columbia.

All these items send up red flags to myself and many others about her true intentions or actions of actually living in the Town of Irmo on the dates given at the hearing and also as to her intentions of living here if she wasn’t elected. This is information that I forwarded to SLED to add to the complaint I had filed with them in October of 2023 and also to the SC State Election Commission since the hearing for them to help determine whether she does meet residency requirements according to State Law 7-1-25(D).

I do not believe that her intentions were to actually live here if she didn’t win nor do I believe she actually met the requirements of living here when she filed, but that’s up to SLED and the SC Election Commission, I think it is also up to the Citizens of Irmo to understand that she could end up being sworn-in and not be a true representative of the citizens here.

As you recall, one candidate was disqualified and had used a one-year-old address as his address for candidacy filing at the same time living at an address outside the town of Irmo and yet another with all these questions and issues relating to her residency here in Irmo. We had other candidates on the ballot who truly live in the Town of Irmo and many candidates over the years who truly lived in the Town of Irmo except for a few with eyebrows raised whether they lived in the Town or not.  And they all seem to have some relationship with one other previous elected official in the Town of Irmo.

I  believe that myself and many citizens find it appalling that we have come to this level of integrity of our elections and the integrity of the candidates running for elected office to serve us. 

Hardy King