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COLUMBIA (WACH/AP) -- Richland County Council will resume counting votes after the South Carolina Supreme Court cleared the way.

The Richland County Election Commission planned to resume the count of last week's results Wednesday afternoon.

The court said in an order issued Tuesday afternoon that county officials have until noon Friday to canvass the votes and give the results to state authorities, who will certify them that day.

Liz Crum from The Richland County Election Commission told media that they will continue the counting process on Friday.  

"People forget that we never finished counting the vote so this is not a recount that can only take place after you have had a certification we haven't had that," said Crum.

The justices said any disputes must be filed by Nov. 21.

The order came a week after numerous problems in Richland County that included hours-long voting lines and broken machines. Many people did not vote until hours after the polls were supposed to close. Many people gave up without voting. State election officials have said Richland was the only one of the state's 46 counties that reported serious problems.

Both Democrats and Republicans had filed complaints in court about the election.

"There are a lot of questions to be answered but before we ever get to those questions we need to get the votes counted and that's why we brought the action we did and that's why we are happy with the State Supreme Courts ruling today," said Dick Harpootlian, SC Democratic Party.

"The fact is we want the law to be followed, it wasn't followed here and we think they're going to get answers here soon in Richland County," said Matt Moore, SC Republican Party.

The State Supreme Court has given the SC Election Commission until Friday evening to complete the voting counting process.