Polls close in Beaufort County
At 7 p.m., polling places officially closed in Beaufort County and across South Carolina. That doesn’t necessarily mean voting is finished though, as anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
When the polls do finally shut down, each team of election workers will run a tabulation of the results and post them on the outside door of the polling place. Then, the precinct manager will drive the results, stored in a sealed container, to the county’s election headquarters.
There is no set time when results will be displayed. The S.C. Election Commission reports results online here.
Will the 2020 general election break turnout records in Beaufort County?
Following historic absentee voter turnout before Election Day in Beaufort County, the 2020 general election has the potential to break overall voter participation records set in previous elections.
Roughly 80,000 votes were cast in Beaufort County during the 2016 general election, translating to about 70% voter turnout, according to voter participation data from the S.C. Election Commission.
“We’ll go way past that,” said Ron Clifford, chair of the Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections, on Tuesday afternoon, predicting a higher raw number of votes cast during this year’s general election.
The turnout record in Beaufort County for the years data are available was set in 1992 when then-Democratic Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush. That year, about 78% of registered voters cast ballots, the data show.
— Lucas Smolcic Larson, [email protected]
Bluffton voter: ‘probably the most important election of my lifetime’
The Bluffton Recreation Center on Ulmer Road has had long lines of residents waiting to vote early for weeks.
But by the mid-afternoon on Election Day, only a handful of poll workers and voters occupied the basketball gym where in-person voting was now taking place.
In-person votes tallied reached 242 around 3 p.m., according to Ashley Trexler, the poll clerk for the precinct.
She said the first person began lining up to vote at 5:30 a.m., and the line in the morning had about 75 people in it. Trexler said she is expecting a rush of people to come in after work as well.
Sara Remigio walked out of the recreation center in white scrubs and a blue “I voted” sticker. She left work early as a nurse at Hilton Head Hospital to make sure she cast her ballot.
“This election is probably the most important election of my lifetime,” she said.
Remigio said she now had to go pick up her two kids, 9 and 10 years old, from school, but that voting today was painless.
Trexler, the poll clerk, said election workers have had only had one major issue: They’ve had to turn a lot of people away from the Ulmer Road polling place because they were at the wrong location.
Next to the Beaufort County elections office, the area was the only place voters in Bluffton could go to vote early in the last few weeks.
Bluffton residents who looked up where to vote early on Google prior to Election Day were told to come to the Bluffton Recreation Center, even if it wasn’t their assigned polling place.
Trexler advised voters to double check their polling place before they head out to vote on Tuesday.
“We want everyone to vote,” she said.
— Jake Shore, [email protected]
Port Royal, Lady’s Island lines dwindle as first-time voters cast ballots
At Port Royal Town Hall, where voters were stretched several blocks early Tuesday morning, waiting for more than an hour to vote, the line had dwindled to just a few people by 11:20 a.m.
“Everybody’s on their best behavior,” said volunteer Tom Wallace.
Tidal Creek Fellowship on Lady’s Island had seen 479 voters by 11:45 a.m. Twenty were in line at 5:45 a.m., said Garry Gammon, a poll worker who added that everyone had been “very pleasant, very friendly.”
By lunchtime, there was no wait at that Lady’s Island precinct. Renee Penn, 45, snapped her daughter’s photo by the “Vote here!” sign outside and then waited as she went in to do her civic duty. “I remember my first time registering and voting,” she said. “I remember how I felt. Now, to be able to watch her vote in a monumental year. … I’m hopeful. I’m prayerful.”
Her daughter, Tiffani Griffin, had celebrated her 18th birthday on Monday. Casting her ballot took longer than expected because poll workers couldn’t find her name on the rolls. She was told that because she had registered in the past month, it may not have shown up.
She cast a provisional ballot. “I’m excited,” the Beaufort High School senior said. “This is a really serious election, and I’m glad to have been a part of it.”
Said her mother: “No matter what the result, I pray that everybody remains loving, caring, peaceful citizens.”
Hillary Taylor brought her 5-year-old daughter, Alaina, to the polls. “She knows all the politicians’ names” from the TV ads, she said after taking a photo of Alaina wearing her “I voted” sticker.
— Candy Hatcher, [email protected]
Local businesses, chamber partner to provide meals to poll workers
Poll workers across southern Beaufort County putting in the hours to make sure voting goes smoothly are being rewarded with meals thanks to a new Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce initiative this year.
Nearly 300 poll worker volunteers will receive meals, snacks and refreshments at 27 polling locations, the chamber said in a news release.
Just before noon, Linda Prosser, owner of Alfred’s Restaurant at Plantation Center on Hilton Head rolled by Hilton Head School for the Creative Arts in a green Volkswagen Beetle.
She said she was dropping off 28 lunches for volunteers at two polling places and added that the chamber and a local Realtor, Andy Twisdale, had funded the initiative.
In total, 18 businesses participated in the “Adopt-A-Polling Place” effort, the chamber’s news release said.
— Kate Hidalgo Bellows, [email protected]
Voting continues into the afternoon on Hilton Head
At St. Luke’s Church on Hilton Head Island’s south end, more than 660 people had cast ballots in person by noon. The church is the polling place for four precincts, two of which were relocated from The Seabrook retirement community.
Clara Kiser, 21, cast her ballot for the first time at St. Luke’s just before noon. She was confident in who she would vote for in the presidential and state representative races.
“For local offices? Not so much,” Kiser said.
She said she used a feature on the social media platform Instagram to register to vote earlier this fall.
Earlier in the morning at Hilton Head Island Presbyterian, Linda Heise, a poll watcher with the South Carolina Democratic Primary reported 300 people had voted by 10:30 a.m. Heise stood by as a poll worker asked a voter with a Trump hat to remove it before entering the polling location.
Heise said people aren’t supposed to wear clothing supporting a specific candidate or party within 200 feet of a polling site, but voters have still shown up with it.
It’s her first time as a poll watcher. “I wanted to work the polls and make sure everyone had access to the vote,” she said.
If a poll watcher sees something suspicious, they will talk to the poll manager. But Heise hasn’t seen anything that causes concern. “It’s so smooth in there. They’re very professional.”
— Katherine Kokal, [email protected], and Kate Hidalgo Bellows, [email protected]
Reports of incorrect polling location information through S.C. voter page
Several Bluffton voters living in Hampton Lake say polling location information from South Carolina’s voter information system has caused confusion.
One of them, Amy Morrissette, said she was directed to the wrong polling location. After a two hour wait, she ended up casting a provisional ballot.
Morrissette had voted in previous elections at Pritchardville Elementary School. This morning, she double checked her polling location before heading out to vote and saw that had changed.
The S.C. Election Commission’s voter information page directed Morrissette to vote at Buckwalter Recreation Center, according to a screenshot she shared with The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
But after a long wait, poll workers told her she was at the wrong precinct. “They finally said, ‘You can vote provisionally,’” Morrissette told the newspapers.
The experience shook her.
“My vote needs to count,” she said, wondering if the issue she experienced was affecting others.
Election Commission spokesperson Chris Whitmire confirmed the voter information system was displaying Buckwalter Rec Center as Morrissette’s polling place. He couldn’t immediately identify the issue, but said he hadn’t received similar reports from other S.C. voters.
Al Rudnickas also had difficulties finding the correct polling location. Rudnickas had heard from neighbors that voters in his part of Hampton Lake were being turned away from Buckwalter Rec Center, so he and his wife went to Pritchardville Elementary, where they had voted in the past.
There, a poll manager directed them to Buckwalter, where they were able to vote without issue. “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it,” Rudnickas said. He reported calling Beaufort County’s elections officials and getting only a pre-recorded message.
Whitmire with the state Election Commission said he would contact Beaufort County officials for more information. Two local election officials did not immediately return a call from the newspapers.
Whitmire advised voters to follow poll managers’ instructions if any issues arise.
— Lucas Smolcic Larson, [email protected]
Elections officials begin processing over 56,000 absentee ballots
As of 9 a.m., 56,178 absentee ballots have been returned in Beaufort County, according to figures from the S.C. Election Commission. That number accounts for mail-in ballots and early voting. It represents just over 40% of registered voters in the county.
Absentee ballots must be returned before 7 p.m. Tuesday to be counted, except for those submitted by members of the military and overseas citizens, whose absentee ballots can be received until Nov. 5.
Those sealed ballots are being opened, unfolded and scanned as of 7 this morning, according to Ron Clifford, chair of the Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections.
Statewide, at least 2,500 absentee ballots won’t be counted because voters returned them without a witness signature, the Post & Courier reported Monday.
Clifford reported a busy morning for in-person voting in Beaufort County that had subsided somewhat by mid-morning. “It’s going well,” he said.
In contrast to this year’s primaries, the board did not have difficulty staffing polling locations. “We got more workers than we know what to do with now all of the sudden,” Clifford said.
As for results, Clifford said he hoped officials would be able to tabulate all the votes tonight and early Wednesday morning.
“I don’t know exactly how quick we get it done,” he said.
— Lucas Smolcic Larson, [email protected]
‘I want to be counted’
At 8:20 a.m., the line wound around Community Bible Church in Burton, filling the sidewalk, people in sweaters and coats from the season’s coolest temperature to date: 48 degrees.
Maggie and Matthew Melvin were there with their three children. “It’s great to show your kids your rights,” Maggie Melvin said. “It’s most important to set a good standard.”
It was the second time at the polls for Matthew Jr., 7, who thought it was a great experience.
Wade Martin was also in line, 45 minutes into what would be more than an hour wait. He didn’t mind.
“It’s an emotional, patriotic feeling being here,” Martin said.
Lydia Simmons had been waiting 20 minutes and was happy to be there. “I want to be counted,” she said. “I just hope for the best.”
— Candy Hatcher, [email protected]
Long lines at some Bluffton polling locations
Todd Malphrus, clad in a camouflage jacket, arrived at Pritchardville Elementary School in Bluffton at 6:40 a.m. hoping to cast his vote for President Trump before work.
At almost 8:15 a.m., he was still waiting just outside the entrance, joining hundreds of Bluffton residents queued up to vote in the brisk morning air. More than an hour after the polls opened, the line still snaked through the parking lot.
Inside, a technician could be seen working on one voting machine and a poll worker reported some “technical difficulties.” Still, the line was moving. State Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, stood near the entrance to the gym waiting to vote ahead of several “sign wave” events scheduled in Old Town today in support of his re-election bid.
Along Buckwalter Parkway in Bluffton, cars lined the road, parked in the grass near the entrance to the Buckwalter Recreation Center, another polling place experiencing significant wait times on Tuesday morning.
At Oscar Frazier Park in Old Town Bluffton, residents parked cars in neighboring subdivisions and also lined up to vote, some arriving as early as 5 a.m., two hours before the polls opened, according to poll workers.
At the Moss Creek polling location, the scene was similar at around 8:30 a.m.
Other polling locations seemed to have beat the morning rush. Poll workers reported 150 people had voted by 8:30 a.m. at Bluffton High School. At that time, there was no line to vote.
One of these voters was Lindsay Bird, who said she was planning to cast her vote for Joe Biden in the presidential race. Bird said uncertainty about the witness signature requirement on absentee ballots in South Carolina pushed her to vote on Election Day.
There was no question about whether or not she would vote, Bird said. “As a person who is married to a woman … I feel like I have a lot at stake here with my rights and the Supreme Court.”
— Lucas Smolcic Larson, [email protected]
Polls open in Beaufort County
At 7 a.m., 55 polling places serving Beaufort County’s 95 precincts are set to open their doors to voters up early to cast their ballots in the 2020 general election.
Tuesday is the culmination of weeks of voting already underway.
As the sun rose on Election Day, just over 40% of the county’s 138,735 registered voters had cast ballots, according to a S.C. Election Commission tally updated Monday evening. A surge in absentee voting statewide was spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and has smashed the previous record set in 2016.
The number of ballots returned in Beaufort County this year — including mail-in and early voting — had already reached roughly 70% of the total votes cast in 2016 before the polls opened on Tuesday. The same trend has played out across the nation and could push turnout over 2016 levels.
Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump carried Beaufort County by 14 points over Democrat Hillary Clinton four years ago, mirroring his margin of victory in the state as a whole.
But recent polling shows President Trump’s statewide lead on Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden has hovered around seven points in October.
At the polls, Beaufort County voters will weigh in on a hotly contested U.S. Senate race between incumbent GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison. Local voters will also help decide a close contest between Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, who won a surprise victory in 2018 to flip a Congressional District that had been a GOP stronghold for decades, and challenger Nancy Mace, a Republican state representative.
Contested local races include Beaufort County Council District 7, the mayor of Beaufort and three open seats on Hilton Head Town Council.
The polls will be open until 7 p.m. Any voter in line at that time will be able to cast a ballot, according to election officials.
To check your polling location or view a sample ballot, visit scvotes.gov. Common voting questions are answered here.
— Lucas Smolcic Larson, [email protected]
This story will be updated throughout the day with more local coverage
