Early voting in Horry County starts off with good turnout, minimal issues, official says

Maya Brown
Chris Seward/N&O file photo

Early voting kicked off in Horry County Monday, and election officials said there has been a good turnout so far without many issues.

Election Day is Nov. 8, but registered voters have until Nov. 5 to participate in early voting to avoid the chaos that usually comes with casting a ballot on the set day.

Sandy Martin, the county’s Voters Registration and Elections Director, said the only issue that has come up Monday is machine timing out due to people spending a long time in the booth.

“...We have a local question on the ballot that is extremely long, and some of the people that haven’t looked at it beforehand are taking more than five minutes in the voting booths,” she said.

But Martin said that particular problem has been resolved.

“People are just going in, and they’re showing their (identification cards),” she added. “They’re getting checked in. They’re going to the voting booth, and they’re on their way, so it seems to be working out really well.”

As of Monday afternoon, Martin said she thinks about 3,000 people had voted, which she said is a good turnout.

One perk of voting early is that voters can go to any of the seven voting locations around the county instead of going to their registered polling place.

Early voting is a relatively new concept in South Carolina. Martin said the primary elections earlier this year was the first time the state implemented it.

For the general election, the early voting period ends Nov. 5. Any registered voter can cast their ballot from Monday through Saturday between 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the Election Commission’s website.

Martin said they are encouraging people to “make sure they are registered and all before they go vote, take your photo ID and, if possible, look over the questions in the ballot before you get there” to save time.

State election officials announced Monday afternoon that about 40,000 people participated in early voting. That’s about double the single-day record set in June.

Also Monday, the commission’s site had trouble loading pages due to high traffic, according to a news release. It seems the problem had been fixed as of late afternoon.

Horry County early voting locations

Myrtle Beach

  • Carolina Forest Library: 2250 Carolina Forest Blvd.

  • Grand Strand Senior Center: 1268 21st Avenue N.

  • South Strand Recreation Center: 9650 Scipio Lane

Conway

  • County Voter Registration and Elections Office: 1515 4th Avenue

Aynor

  • Aynor Town Hall: 600 Main Street

Loris

  • Loris Public Safety Center: 3909 Walnut Street

Little River

  • North Strand Recreation Center: 120 Highway 57 S.

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