The Sea Pines elections are over. But is the power struggle?

The power struggle in Sea Pines is apparent after the results of two board elections were released this week.

The two boards — Community Services Associates, which oversees administration, and the Association of Sea Pines Plantation Property Owners, a voluntary group — each had three open seats that were filled with a mix of candidates endorsed primarily by either one of two sides opposing each other.

Alliance for Sea Pines Future, a group that emerged earlier this year and openly opposed the proposed Sea Pines Resort referendum to expand The Inn & Club in Harbour Town, supported a set of candidates for each board. Another unnamed group, along with the Sea Pines Resort, endorsed another set of candidates. The two sides shared a common candidate — Stu Rodman — who received the most votes.

Sea Pines voters could select three candidates each for the two boards. The Alliance group will now have one endorsed candidate on each board: Rodman won a CSA seat, while Daniel Westerbeck earned a spot on the ASPPPO board.

Although four of the six Alliance-backed candidates did not win, the organization — which was referred to as a “small group of dissident residents” by the opposing group — does not see the election results as a defeat.

“I personally was disappointed, but I was (29) votes away from getting a seat,” said Dana Advocaat, an Alliance-backed candidate for ASPPPO, when contacted Thursday. “We showed we are nearly 50 percent of the community. The idea that someone could say we are a fringe group is dumb. We showed we have credibility.”

Of the total 9,744 votes cast for the CSA seats, the two candidates backed only by Alliance collectively received 2,339 votes, or 24 percent of the total, according to information released by CSA.

For the three ASPPPO seats, there were 6,327 total votes cast, of which 2,848, or 45 percent of the total, collectively went to three Alliance candidates, CSA records show.

More than 50 votes were disqualified in the ASPPPO election because individuals joined the group past the Nov. 1 deadline to be eligible to vote, officials said earlier.

Alliance founder Greg Morris said Thursday he is glad the board elections are over, adding that wasn’t the reason his group was formed. He also said his organization isn’t going away and will continue to voice opinions on issues important to the group, such as the proposed Sea Pines Resort referendum.

Although others disagree, Morris said both Alliance and the opposing side want the same thing for the community, and neither wants the resort to fail. He said he hopes the referendum negotiations will be “much easier going forward.”

If approved as proposed, the referendum would have allowed the resort to invest $70 million to $100 million in the Harbour Town area and more than double the number of rooms at The Inn & Club, with the goal, according to supporters, of turning it into a five-star resort.

The referendum vote was postponed in August.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that two Alliance candidates received 24 percent of the votes in the CSA election.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 2:13 PM with the headline "The Sea Pines elections are over. But is the power struggle?."