Here’s what we will — and what we won’t — know in SC on election night

The South Carolina Election Commission expects to have results for all offices and ballot measures on election night or in the early morning hours Wednesday.

The rest of the country, who knows?

In a national election as contentious as this has been, it is unknowable what might happen in some of the more contested states.

South Carolina is solid Republican and Donald Trump holds a sizable lead in polling over Kamala Harris.

Local races likely will be determined fairly early in the evening. There are no statewide races this year and no U.S. Senate seats up for election. Lindsey Graham’s seat is up for election in 2026, Tim Scott 2028.

All seven U.S. Representative seats are on the ballot and all are challenged.

The state election commission will post results on its website as ballots are counted after polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Some counties have local data on their websites as well.

The results on websites are unofficial.

The process to certify is:

• County voter and election boards add provisional ballots that are accepted on Friday.

• The South Carolina Board of Canvassers will meet and certify state-level results on Nov. 14.

The Associated Press will provide information on winners in nearly 7,000 races through election night and beyond. The media outlet says it will not call close races until it is apparent a candidate has won, meaning there are not enough outstanding ballots for one candidate to surpass the other.

The George Bush-Al Gore presidential race in 2000 was a case in point. The AP did not make a call because the margin was less than 0.5%.

This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 6:00 AM.