Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2008

Poll workers in S.C. gird for big day

‘We are ready,’ State Election Commission director says

In sports, this would be game day. In entertainment, it’s showtime. Today is Election Day in South Carolina.

Like those pursuits, today’s vote is expected to be a test of stamina for the 2 million voters expected to head to the polls and face long lines. And the end could be pure drama, as the nation will elect its next leader and make history with either the first black president or the first female vice president.

Excitement for this race has translated into a record 300,000 absentee votes cast in S.C., nearly twice what was cast in 2004. Turnout is expected to beat 2004 as well, when 70 percent of voters cast ballots. Turnout could reach 80 percent or more.

Expect to wait at the polls.

“We are ready,” declared Marci Andino, State Election Commission executive director, noting that county election officials have been preparing for months for today’s turnout.

This presidential race has captured Americans’ interest like few others. Democratic U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois faces Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for the right to take the nation’s highest elected office.

The U.S. House of Representatives and much of the U.S. Senate also are up for grabs, and lead a host of state and local races that could signal significant national and regional political shifts.

It is the presidential race — highlighted by one of the most colorful campaigns ever — that promises to keep election officials and partisan poll watchers busy.

About 300,000 new voters have registered this year alone, election officials say, and about 500,000 new voters have been added to the rolls since the 2004 presidential election, raising the state’s electorate to 2.5 million people.

The state is countering with 18,000 poll workers on hand, Andino said, the maximum number allowed by law, based on the size of the state’s electorate.

“There will be lines,” Andino warned, urging voters coming out to polls today to have identification, and their ballot choices, ready to help speed up the process.

“There is a tremendous amount of interest around this election,” Andino said, “but we will get them through the lines as quickly as possible.”

Party officials say they are ready, too.

“I feel good about the Republican ticket in South Carolina,” said Katon Dawson, chairman of the S.C. Republican Party.

Two congressional races in the Palmetto State are being closely watched, the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, but Dawson said he expects Republican Reps. Henry Brown and Joe Wilson to return to Washington in January. Charleston Democrat Linda Ketner is locked in a tight race with Brown, and Beaufort’s Rob Miller is challenging Wilson.

Dawson was less committal about the outcome of the presidential race. “Nationally, I’m going to let the voters decide that,” he said.

Democrats, meanwhile, are buoyed by high expectations in today’s vote.

“We think Democrats will do well up and down the ballot,” said Keiana Page, communications director for the S.C. Democratic Party.

“We expect Barack Obama to win this election, because the country is ready for a change. And we expect (Ketner and Miller) to win there.”

Reach Burris at (803) 771-8398.