Horry County sees most early votes in South Carolina’s GOP Primary

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - While polls open Saturday morning for South Carolina’s Republican Primary, thousands have already cast their ballots during the state’s two-week early voting period.

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According to data from the South Carolina Election Commission, Horry County had the highest early voter turnout for the GOP primary. Horry County Elections Director Sandy Martin later told WMBF News that 25,352 people voted in the early window.

It marks a stark difference from the Democratic primary, which saw a little more than 1,000 early voters and 2,336 voters total.

There was no GOP primary in 2020, so this is the first time South Carolina has had a two-week early voting period. In 2016, however, Martin said there were more than 54,000 GOP primary voters.

Though it is difficult to compare this year to past ones, Martin said she is optimistic about the numbers.

“I expected it to be high, but that’s a really good number for early voting. Which leads me to believe that we’ll probably have a good turnout,” she said.

Martin added she wants voters to remember that like the Democratic primary, some precincts are combined. She hopes to cut down on the precinct confusion her office saw earlier this month.

“We’re putting the same signs back at the locations that we’ve moved, the county’s been doing some, you know, extra broadcasting about it, it’s been on the news for months,” said Martin. “We’re doing all we can do to try to notify the voters that, you know, there are some combined precincts.”

Polls open at 7 a.m. Saturday and close at 7 p.m. Martin also wants voters to be patient, as there may be some lines at polling places.

Stay with WMBF News for updates.

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