Election Commission announces Saturday absentee voting

Columbia, SC (WOLO) —- According to the South Carolina State Election Commission the number of absentee ballots issued and returned for the Midterm election is up from 2014. Chris Whitmire, the Director of Public Information and Training says the 2014 Midterm election set a record with around 157 thousand ballots turned in. Statewide, South Carolinians have already surpassed that.

The Elections Commission says as of today, more than 260 thousand absentee ballots have been issued and more than 230 thousand have been returned from across the state.

As those numbers continue to rise as we approach the General election Tuesday November 6th. To make casting your absentee ballot more accessible, the Election Commission announced that they will be open Saturday November 3rd from 9am – 1pm and again Monday November 5th from 8:30am – 5pm.

If you would like to take advantage of the opportunity to vote absentee in person, officials say it’s as simple as visiting your County elections office, completing an application and casting your ballot. The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail has already passed, and those returning one by mail must have it in no later than 7pm Tuesday, November 6th.

For additional information you can go to http://scVOTES.org