UPDATED 10/27/24 | South Carolinians are turning out to vote early in record numbers with new daily records set during each of the first three days of early voting this week, according to tallies from the S.C. Election Commission.
“There’s no need to wait until Nov. 5 to vote,” S.C. Election Commission Executive Director Howard Knapp said in a press release. “Find an early voting center in your county. Vote just like you would at your polling place on Election Day, and have your voice heard.”
By early Friday, more than 500,000 Palmetto State residents had heeded that call, reportedly braving parking problems and long lines at many early voting sites to cast their ballots for president, state legislature and county offices.
“Everybody thought they were going to beat the crowd on the first day, but it turned into a crowd everywhere,” Horry County election official Sandy Martin told the Post and Courier. “If you drive by our office, you’re going to think it’s Walmart.”
In Charleston County, about two-thirds of voters are expected to vote early, according to Isaac Cramer, executive director of the county’s Board of Elections and Voter Registration. Projections were for 140,000 early voters out of 225,000 ballots expected to be cast in the county.
South Carolina’s early voting period runs through Nov. 2. For a full list of voting locations and requirements, visit the S.C. Election Commission website at scvotes.gov.
In other state election news this week, a judge ruled late Friday that it was too late to add almost 2,000 young people to the state’s voter rolls before election day. The lawsuit stemmed from a reported computer error by the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) that voided their attempted voter registrations.
The teens, who were not yet old enough to vote but would turn 18 before election day, tried to register legally at SCDMV offices under the federal “motor voter” law, which has required states to offer voter registration services to all eligible residents when they apply for or renew a drivers license since 1993.
McMaster signs prison cell phone ban into law
When Gov. Henry McMaster signed a new law this week outlawing unauthorized cell phone possession by prison inmates, no one was happier than the retired corrections official for whom the bill was named.
“I’m overjoyed,” said former Lee Correctional Institution Capt. Robert Johnson, who was shot six times at his home in 2010 after inmates arranged the attack using a contraband cell phone. “I think we need to do all we can to stop inmates from having access to contraband phones and to help support our correctional staff. I thank them for pushing the legislation through.”
McMaster touted the state’s “tremendous progress” in shutting down unauthorized cell phone use by prisoners as he ceremonially signed the Capt. Robert Johnson Act into law Tuesday.
Under the new law, violators will face up to five additional years in prison for possession of a contraband cell phone and up to 10 years if the phone is used in connection with a crime.
In other recent news
S.C. ranks dead last in energy efficiency, study says. October is National Energy Awareness month, a fact not well-known during a time when climate issues continue to garner discussion, according to a study conducted in September by finance analysts at WalletHub. Energy efficiency is simply not taken as seriously as other issues, especially in the Southeast, the study suggests.
Not enough students in S.C. are graduating with in-demand degrees. South Carolina colleges aren’t graduating nearly enough teachers or nurses to keep up with demand in those fields, and about half of engineering students are leaving the state after graduation, according to a Daily Gazette analysis of data from the state Commission on Higher Education.
S.C. health agency sets drug take-back day for Sunday. The South Carolina Department of Public Health announced the second drug take-back day of the year taking place on Oct. 26. The purpose of the day is to clean out and properly dispose of unused or expired medications. Nearly 50% of abused prescription drugs come from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
S.C. meteorologists react to weather conspiracies after Helene. Meteorologists in South Carolina say that the prevalence of weather conspiracy theories and misinformation this hurricane season was the worst they’ve ever seen.
S.C. renters have little legal protection from mold. It’s getting worse. South Carolina is hot, stormy and humid; environmental factors which favor mold growth, and which will likely worsen as the Earth warms. But neither the state nor federal government have specific safety standards for mold growth in rental housing.
McMaster fills seat of USC’s longest-serving board member with trustee’s daughter. Eddie Floyd, the longest-serving member and former chairman of the University of South Carolina board of trustees, has quietly retired. McMaster has appointed Floyd’s daughter, Coleman Floyd Buckhouse, to fill his seat.
Commission works to determine location, design of Robert Smalls monument. South Carolina is preparing to put up its first individual statue for an African American on its Statehouse lawn, honoring Robert Smalls, who put on Confederate clothes in order to steal a slaveholder’s ship and sail his family and a dozen others to freedom during the Civil War.
S.C.’s social services chief to step down. Michael Leach, director of South Carolina’s child-welfare agency who took over the department in 2019 amid high turnover and heavy caseloads, will step down next year.
S.C. death row inmate picks lethal injection. Convicted murderer Richard Moore, scheduled to be executed by the state of South Carolina on Nov. 1, picked lethal injection as his method of execution. Moore is appealing the execution to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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