SC voters make their pick for the Democratic presidential nominee today

It’s Decision Day for Democrats. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the state Democratic presidential preference primary.

Here are a few reminders about what to expect:

Who can vote?

Primaries, including those for presidential nominees, are open in South Carolina, meaning as long as you registered to vote by the Jan. 30 deadline for this contest, you are welcome to cast a ballot.

Who’s on the ballot and actually running

Voters will notice many names on the ballot — 12 to be exact. But not all of those candidates are running.

Seven candidates who will appear on Saturday’s ballots are still in the race: former Vice President Joe Biden; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar; U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders; businessman Tom Steyer and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Five candidates — Michael Bennet, Cory Booker, John Delaney, Deval Patrick and Andrew Yang — dropped out after absentee voting began in the state. Once voting begins, ballots cannot be altered. So keep that in mind Saturday if you want your vote to have an impact on the candidates still running.

Tip: Signs will be posted outside the precincts to remind you which candidates have withdrawn.

New voting machines at the polls

Saturday will be the first statewide contest conducted on South Carolina’s new voting machines, which incorporate a paper ballot into the voting process.

How does it work?

When you arrive at your polling place, you’ll receive a blank ballot. You’ll feed it into the voting machine, make your selections, print the ballot and then feed the ballot into a scanner that counts your vote and drops your paper ballot into a locked ballot box.

It’s not the first use of the machines, however. They were used widely on Election Day 2019 in local elections across the state. They’ve been used in 42 of 46 counties for more than 220 elections, S.C. State Election Commission spokesperson Chris Whitmire said.

Resist the selfie

It’s illegal to to show your ballot to anyone else in South Carolina, so you may want to skip the selfie with your ballot.

This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.