Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2008

Absentee ballots predict record turnout

Shocked by crowds, Richland officials say S.C. should allow early voting

More than 3,000 people stood in line for more than five hours Saturday in Richland County, waiting for a turn to vote absentee.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mike Cinnamon, Richland County’s election director for 37 years. As he spoke, a throng of people stood outside on a cool but sunny day in lines half a mile long.

“Thank goodness the weather is good.”

In Lexington County, huge crowds also enveloped that county’s voting office Saturday.

But the unprecedented turnout in Richland County shocked elections officials, who said the Legislature should pass a law allowing early voting — as opposed to absentee voting, which is voting for which a person must swear they have a legal reason they can’t vote on Election Day, Tuesday.

In South Carolina, voters must sign a sworn statement that they are giving a true reason for not voting Tuesday. In “early” voting — lawful in some states to relieve long lines on election day — anyone can vote early for any reason.

Cinnamon said that because of the large number of voters and the logistical difficulty of verifying what a voter says, there is no way to investigate whether people really have a legal excuse.

“We take you at your word,” said Cinnamon. “There’s no way to police it.”

After Saturday, officials said, more than 35,000 people in Richland County are expected to have voted early through absentee ballots. That’s 16 percent of the county’s 218,000 voters.

Such a heavy pre-election turnout had county officials predicting that by the end of Election Day, more than 90 percent of the county’s registered voters — maybe 200,000 — will have voted. That would beat the former record of 70 percent of registered voters voting in 2004.

Of the estimated 3,000-plus people in line Saturday, nearly all were African-American. They came on crutches and brought folding chairs to endure the wait. Their ages ranged from early 20s to 70s and beyond.

“History” and “to make a change” were reasons usually cited by people waiting to vote.

At 1 p.m., when the voting offices officially closed, there still were more than 1,000 people in the two lines. Officials allowed those already in line to keep going.

“It will probably be 7 o’clock before we get out of here,” said Lillian McBride, director of voter registration.

“This is electrifying,” said Richland County council member Bernice Scott, commenting on the seriousness in the faces of the voters. “They are coming with a mission, and when you are on a mission, you complete your mission.”

The 35,000 absentee ballots already cast in Richland County include about 20,000 mailed-in paper ballots and 15,000 votes cast in person by people using automated machines.

People still can cast absentee ballots Monday. Election Day voting starts Tuesday at the county’s 125 precincts.