District 1 Congressional candidate's eligibility questioned

A Dorchester County mom with a knack for research is challenging whether Ben Frasier should remain a Democratic candidate for South Carolina's District 1 Congressional seat.

"He's a Maryland resident, and he's . . . claiming that South Carolina has been his home," said Nancy Suefert. "I have his tax records, which shows he's been declaring since 1999 that Maryland has been his residence."

Frasier, who did not return five telephone messages left Monday and Tuesday, gave four contact numbers to the South Carolina Democratic Party when he paid the $3,386 filing fee last month. Three of them have Maryland area codes. The other appears to be to his house on Wadmalaw Island, which he gave as his address.

To qualify as a congressional candidate, Frasier must be a "qualified elector" in the First District. Suefert has challenged whether Frasier's ties to Maryland should render him ineligible to vote here. The Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration will hold a special hearing on the issue at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Marilyn Bowers, director of the Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration, said the board will consider only whether Frasier is a legal resident here and whether he should remain on the county's voting rolls.

If it were to remove him from the voting rolls, then it would inform the state Democratic party. "Our board is not ruling on his eligibility to be a candidate. The party certifies that, not us," Bowers said.

Suefert decided to investigate Frasier after talking about the congressional race with her children around the dining room table. "I have been preaching for years that before you vote for anyone, you research the candidate," she said.

What she found online intrigued her. She kept looking. "I'm not kidding you. It took me 20 minutes to find out this information," she said. "I have approximately 150 pages of documents to show the board."

Although Suefert considers herself a Democrat, she said she's not connected with the campaign of Linda Ketner, Frasier's June 10 primary opponent.

Frasier, who worked for the late First District Rep. L. Mendel Rivers in the 1970s, has run for office more than a dozen times without winning. Two years ago, however, he came close. He finished first in the three-way Democratic primary for the First District seat but later lost to Charleston real estate investor Randy Matta in a runoff.

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771 or at rbehre@postandcourier.com.