Heavy Voter Turnout Reported for the South Carolina GOP Primary

The GOP presidential preference primary will be the only race on the ballot. Voters who do not have an acceptable form of ID may still vote absentee in-person after completing the Virginia Voter Photo Identification Card Application and receiving a Temporary Identification Document from their voter registration office.

About 59,000 absentee ballots have been returned, compared to 27,000 four years ago.

According to County Election Board Secretary Jennifer L. Wilson, registered voters in Jackson County who want to vote by mail absentee ballot in the March 1 Presidential Preferential Primary Election have until Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m.to request one.

Absentee statistics showed 75,257 ballots were cast statewide as of Friday evening. Any registered voter eligible to vote in the election may vote by absentee ballot without stating a reason, Fahrendorf said.

Ted Cruz holds a press conference in Seneca, South Carolina on February 17, 2016.

And South Carolina’s not the only contest where election observers are monitoring turnout.

There are 2.9 million voters in the state, and by all early accounts, it seems that many of them will be going to the polls.

County election director Dean Crepes is predicting 40 percent of the county’s 165,000 voters to go to the polls Saturday, up from 28 percent in 2012. “Press it again and confirm and your ballot’s been cast”, Chris Whitmire explains, SC Election Commission.

“South Carolina right now is the center of the political universe”, McMaster said.