It’s Election Day. What’s at stake in the Midlands and how do you find the results?
For those who have yet to vote, Tuesday is the last day to cast a ballot.
Besides voting for president, a race featuring former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, voters in South Carolina are choosing who will represent them in the U.S. House for the next two years, in the state House for the next two years and state Senate for the next four years.
Now most of those elections aren’t competitive because of how districts are drawn in South Carolina. Out of the 170 state general assembly seats, only 17 may truly be competitive.
However, some of those competitive seats are in the Midlands, including the race for House District 75 between Democratic incumbent state Rep. Heather Bauer, and former state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, a Republican.
The race to succeed state Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington, in Senate District 26 also is expected to be close as the race features state Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, and Republican businessman Jason Guerry.
Republicans are heavily favored to keep control of the both state legislative chambers.
Voters also will decide on school board races, and countywide offices, such as coroner, sheriff and clerk of court in Richland County.
Around South Carolina, voters are being asked whether they want to make a slight tweak to the state’s constitution so that it says that only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in elections, as opposed to every U.S. citizen. Proponents of the change say it can be construed that the every citizen language could allow people who are not citizens to vote.
South Carolina lawmakers pointed to areas such as San Francisco that have allowed non-citizens to vote in school board election, but Attorney General Alan Wilson has acknowledged there have been no reports of municipalities trying to allow non-citizens to vote.
In Richland County, voters are deciding whether to extend the transportation penny tax, which is expected to expire in December 2026. If approved, the county expects the penny tax to be in place for an additional 25 years or until it generates $4.5 billion for transportation related projects, such as new roads, sidewalks and the COMET, the Columbia area’s public bus system.
As of Monday morning, 1.5 million people had already voted either through in-person early voting or through mail-in ballots.
Polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and results will be available at scvotes.gov. Or check back at thestate.com for updates for results.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
