More than 1,300 absentee ballots were cast in Richland County Saturday, more than double the number of ballots the week before.

At Dreher High School, lines formed early and remained long as voters sought absentee ballots for Tuesday’s election.

Gary Baum, deputy director of the Richland County elections and voter registration office, said most of the people in line were able to cast a ballot. “The only folks that would have been turned away would be if they were registered in another county or not registered at all. And that’s not just for today but that goes for any election,” he said.

Election commission officials stopped processing ballots at 3:30 p.m. They did not accept voters after 1 p.m., but anyone standing in line was allowed to vote.

Voters may cast absentee ballots in person at their local voter registration office until 5 p.m. Monday.

Statewide, about 208,000 absentee ballots were cast as of Oct. 29. That is up almost 50 percent from 2008, when 142,000 absentee ballots had been cast at that point.

Richland County residents with voting questions can call (803) 576-2200 or (803) 576-2240, while Lexington County residents can call (803) 785-8361.