For the counties of Abbeville, Allendale, Barnwell, Calhoun, Dillon, Georgetown, Greenwood, Horry, Laurens, Oconee and Saluda, the council form of government as prescribed in Article 3 of this chapter.
For the counties of Anderson, Bamberg, McCormick, Union and York, the council-supervisor form of government as prescribed in Article 5 of this chapter.
For the counties of Aiken, Beaufort, Charleston, Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Dorchester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Florence, Greenville, Hampton, Jasper, Kershaw, Lee, Lancaster, Lexington, Newberry, Pickens, Richland, Spartanburg and Sumter the council-administrator form of government as prescribed in Article 7 of this chapter.
For the counties of Berkeley, Colleton, Marion, Orangeburg, Marlboro and Williamsburg, the county board of commissioners form of government as prescribed in Article 11 of this chapter.
For those counties in which the county governing body, immediately prior to June 25, 1975, was appointed rather than elected, the members of the governing body shall be required to be elected from defined single member election districts, unless otherwise determined by a valid referendum prior to July 1, 1976. For the purpose of this section, such referendum shall be deemed valid unless declared to be in violation of state or federal law by a court of competent jurisdiction.
If the governing body of the county as initially or subsequently established pursuant to a referendum or otherwise shall be declared to be illegal and not in compliance with state and federal law by a court of competent jurisdiction, the General Assembly shall have the right to prescribe the form of government, the method of election, and the number and terms of council members but may submit to the qualified electors by referendum a question as to their wishes with respect to any element thereof which question shall include as an option the method of election in effect at the time of the referendum.
S.C. Code § 4-9-10
For information regarding the form of government for each county, please visit the South Carolina Association of County's website at https://www.sccounties.org/county-information or refer to page 49 of the Association's publication County Profiles at https://www.sccounties.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resources/countyprofiles2018.pdf