Richland County voters undeterred by long lines on Day 1 of in-person absentee voting

UPDATED: The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling Monday night reinstating the requirement that absentee ballots submitted by mail in South Carolina must have a witness signature. This story has been updated to reflect that decision.

The first day of in-person absentee voting in Richland County was “much busier” than elections officials had anticipated, but the long lines that snaked along Harden Street and down Hampton Street did not seem to frustrate or deter voters, who came out in droves and waited patiently to cast their ballots.

“I wasn’t expecting the line to be this long, but I’m glad it was because it means people are out voting,” said Lash Bailey, a Northeast Columbia resident, who waited about 2 ½ hours to vote Monday and described the process as “really smooth.”

As absentee voting begins in South Carolina, officials expect as many as twice the number of voters to cast absentee ballots this year than did in 2016, in order to avoid coming to the polls Nov. 3.

Officials say the state could see as many as 1 million of its roughly 3.3 million registered voters vote absentee this year, compared to about 500,000 four years ago.

Lawmakers and the governor agreed to expand absentee voting in the general election to all registered voters in South Carolina this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effort to reduce foot traffic at the polls and lower the risk of voters spreading the disease.

Richland County elections officials could not immediately provide a tally of how many voters had cast in-person absentee ballots as of Monday afternoon, but said turnout was greater than expected.

“Much busier than we anticipated, but we were prepared for it,” said Terry Graham, Richland County’s manager of voter registration.

Graham said the first two weeks of absentee voting are usually pretty slow, but that when he arrived at the election commission offices at 7:15 a.m., more than an hour before the polls opened, there was already a line stretching down the block.

Despite the turnout, he said elections officials had not had to make any adjustments on the fly and that the office’s 10 voting machines had been adequate to accommodate voters.

Dennis Davis, a Northeast Columbia resident who had been waiting about 2 ½ hours by the time he neared the exterior of the elections office, said he came out on the first day of absentee voting because of concerns about the ability of precincts to accommodate voters on Election Day.

“This election is awfully important, so we wanted to ensure that we got our vote in so that there’s no question about what the outcome is,” he said. “Given the importance of this election, the time (spent waiting in line) is minuscule.”

Davis, a Democrat, said he suspected the large early turnout was being driven by voters’ concerns over the state of the country and its current course under President Donald Trump.

“The question of our ability to maintain our democracy is on the ballot, as far as I’m concerned,” said Davis, who was one of multiple middle-aged or older voters who referred to 2020 as the most significant election in their lifetimes.

Richland County is a Democratic stronghold: 64% of voters in 2016 picked Democrat Hillary Clinton over then-GOP candidate Donald Trump, who won just 31% support in the county while winning the state by 14 percentage points. Trump leads former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, in all polls of the state’s match up.

Milton Ashford, like many of the voters who waited in long lines Monday, said he preferred to vote absentee in-person rather than mail in his absentee ballot because he didn’t want there to be any question about the validity of his vote or a chance it would not be counted.

“I understand a lot of people have (opted to vote by mail), but I chose not to do it because I want to make sure that my vote is counted,” he said. “I don’t want it to get lost in the mail.”

Richland County on Monday began mailing out absentee ballots to voters who requested them, Graham said, but if voters who asked for mail ballots now prefer to vote absentee in-person, they may still do so.

Graham said a number of early voters came to cast ballots in person Monday because they had not yet received their absentee ballots in the mail.

He said the county had security measures in place to ensure that anyone who votes absentee in-person cannot vote a second time by mail, or vice versa.

In-person absentee voting runs 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday, from now until Nov. 2, the day before the election.

Absentee-by-mail ballots must be received at county offices by 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, except for those submitted by members of the military and overseas citizens, whose absentee-by-mail ballots must be mailed by 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, but can be received until 5 p.m. on Nov. 5.

If you’d like to vote absentee by mail, but have yet to request a ballot, absentee ballot applications must be received by county voter offices by 5 p.m. on Oct. 24, if sent by mail, email or fax, or by 5 p.m. on Oct. 30, if submitted in person.

Absentee-by-mail voters are required to obtain the signature of a witness on the envelope they use to send in their ballot.

The status of the witness signature requirement, which had been the subject of a weeks-long court battle, was put to rest late Monday night when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated a state election law requiring that voters have someone attest to witnessing their vote by signing their name on the back of the mail-in ballot envelope.

Anyone, including a spouse, friend or a child, can be a witness and sign the voter mail-in envelope.

Ballots cast before the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday and received by Wednesday will not be rejected for failing to comply with the witness signature requirement.

Where/When to vote absentee in-person in Richland County

*Richland County residents may vote absentee in-person at the main county office or any of the five extension offices

This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 4:26 PM.

Zak Koeske

The State

412-334-2443

Zak Koeske is a projects reporter for The State. He previously covered state government and politics for the paper. Before joining The State, Zak covered education, government and policing issues in the Chicago area. He’s also written for publications in his native Pittsburgh and the New York/New Jersey area.