Election Day in South Carolina; but for only half the state

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Election Day is here again for South Carolina, but polls are only opening in half of the state’s counties.

Tuesday is runoff day for the June 9 Democratic and Republican primaries. There are no statewide races or nominations for U.S. House on the ballot. Just 23 of the state’s 46 counties have races at all.

More attention may be paid to how voting goes. Several problems with ballots and long waits were reported during the June 9 primary, as he COVID-19 pandemic meant fewer polling places than usual opened and inexperienced poll workers struggled.

The biggest problems were in Richland County, where five precincts were combined at a high school and the final votes weren’t cast until after midnight — five hours after polls were supposed to close.

Other Richland County voters reported the wrong races on their ballots and said poll workers were encouraging them to vote even after pointing out their choices weren’t in their districts.

The South Carolina Election Commission is working with Richland County to get enough workers to the busiest precincts and better distribute voting machines, agency spokesman Chris Whitmire said.

Richland County doesn’t have a countywide race Tuesday, but there are runoffs for the Democratic nominations for County Council in four districts.

All 170 seats in the South Carolina General Assembly are up for election, but Tuesday has runoffs in just three state Senate and seven state House seats.

Only three incumbents, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin of Horry County and state Reps. Neal Collins of Pickens County and Bill Chumley of Spartanburg County have their seats on the line Tuesday. All are Republicans.

Rankin’s chairmanship makes him one of the most powerful lawmakers in the state. But the position hasn’t guaranteed safety. The last chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Larry Martin of Pickens County — lost in a Republican runoff in 2016, ending a 38-year legislative career.

Anyone who cast a ballot in the June 9 primaries must vote in the same party’s runoff Tuesday. Anyone who didn’t vote two weeks ago can vote in either party.

Turnout for the 2020 primaries was 23%, where the only statewide race was U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham winning the Republican nomination. In 2018, with contested primaries for both parties for governor, the turnout was about 20%.