Turnout expected to top '06

Party leaders and other election watchers are predicting voter turnout in Tuesday's primaries will be somewhat higher than what they saw in June 2006, when about 16 percent of the state's electorate voted.

But not by much.

Almost 250,000 voters -- or 10 percent of the state's voters -- cast ballots in the Republican primary in 2006, when the top contest was a challenge against Mark Sanford by Oscar Lovelace.

Almost 140,000 -- or 6 percent of the state's voters --voted in the Democratic primary, where gubernatorial hopefuls state Sen. Tommy Moore, Frank Willis and C. Dennis Aughtry faced off in that party's only statewide primary race.

S.C. Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said she expects more than 140,000 to participate in Tuesday's Democratic primary, "but it's hard to know."

More than 532,000 -- or 23 percent of the state electorate -- participated in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary that gave Barack Obama a decisive win, but only about 150,000 turned out later that June for the Democratic primary.

"We had a lot of new voters in 2008 who participated in the presidential primary, and some of those will participate in this primary," Fowler said. "We don't know how many."

Joel Sawyer, executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, said party leaders expect a higher turnout than in 2006 because of the hotly contested governor's race and lively GOP primaries in half of the state's six congressional districts.

"The 1st, 3rd and 4th (congressional districts) are going to be places where you're going to see a little bit higher turnout," he said.

The 1st District -- where nine Republicans are running and which includes Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester, Georgetown and Horry counties -- is the biggest in the state, with almost 5 percent more registered voters than the next largest.

The party also put two advisory questions on the ballot -- asking Republicans about whether the state should resist the recent healthcare reform and whether they favor state spending caps -- in hopes of luring people to the polls.

Sawyer said he didn't expect 400,000 to vote Tuesday, "but it will be more than it was in 2006."

By comparison, more than 445,000 participated in the GOP presidential primary in early 2008, but only about 281,000 voted in the 2008 Republican primaries -- which featured a challenge to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The number of registered voters is 2.57 million, according to the State Election Commission. That's up about 20,000 from 2008.

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One indicator of turnout -- the numbers of voters seeking to cast absentee ballots -- is not indicating a heavy turnout.

Charleston County voters had requested about 2,200 absentee ballots as of Wednesday, while about 360 voters had shown up in person to vote absentee, Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration director Marilyn Bowers said.

"It has begun to pick up some this week," she said.

Voters who have a reason for not being able to vote on Election Day may cast absentee ballots at their local election office as late as Monday.

How to vote

Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Voters must have either their voter registration card, a driver's license or a state-issued picture ID.

At the polls, voters will be asked if they want to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary. Those who vote in one party's primary Tuesday can't vote in the other party's primary runoff elections June 22.

Voters will use electronic ballots with touch screen pads listing federal, state and local candidates. Republican primary ballots also will include advisory referendum questions. Ballots will vary from precinct to precinct, depending on local races.

Voters must touch the screen next to the candidate of their choice. They may change their mind simply by touching the screen next to another candidate. Once voters decide on the candidates listed on a screen, they will touch 'Next' at the bottom of the screen. When done, voters will be asked to review their choices and can change their votes before hitting the final flashing 'Vote' sign.

For more election information, including political news, candidate profiles and links to county election commissions, visit postandcourier.com. The commission sites for Charleston and Berkeley counties have sample ballots.

To experience how the system works, go to the scvotes.org.