S.C. turnout strong despite Horry setbacks

Despite finding more than 21 polling places closed around Horry County, about 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots to select a Democratic candidate in a presidential primary that inspired a record turnout across the state.

A shortage of volunteers meant Horry County led the state in the number of closed voting places. Voters, most of them in Western Horry County, had to travel to other locations if they wanted to participate.

"They just lost a vote for John Edwards," said James Edwards of western Horry County, who tried to vote at his usual precinct in Shell only to find it closed. He didn't have time to drive to the substitute location.

Only five precincts in the rest of the state were closed, according to Nu Wexler of the S.C. Democratic Party. .

Horry County's loosely organized party simply wasn't up to the task of running a primary in a county the size of Rhode Island, said Horry County Democratic Party Chairman Greg McCollum.

The party tried to get the word out that they'd be unable to staff all 108 precincts and had four phone lines set up to tell voters where to go, McCollum said. But he said the confusion probably hurt turnout.

"I'm sure it frustrated some people, and I apologize for that," McCollum said. "We knew it was going to be tough, and I applaud all the people who gave up their day. We couldn't have done as well as we did without them. Everybody did the best they could."

In South Carolina, primaries are the responsibility of the political parties. Each county's party must find volunteers willing to be trained and to spend 12 hours at a poll for no pay. McCollum said many precincts lack the organization to field volunteers. He said hundreds of people did volunteer - including several Republicans - to ensure that most of the county's polls opened Tuesday.

Voters reported other problems at the polls too, including poorly marked voting places.

"I was running up and down the highway looking for a place to vote," said Hazel Hendricks of Surfside Beach, who couldn't find her polling place on Glenns Bay Road because the sign wasn't large enough to be read from the street. "I'm afraid people aren't going to go to this much trouble to vote."

In Horry County, about 10 percent of the county's 123,995 registered voters cast ballots. It's difficult to compare that turnout with past primaries because the Democratic Party hasn't held a presidential primary in South Carolina since 1992. Since then, the county's population has grown almost 35 percent. Statewide, Tuesday's turnout surpassed the 1992 primary.

In Georgetown, 5,520 of 31,000 registered voters cast ballots, giving the county an 18 percent voter turnout.

The number of Horry County voters in Tuesday's primary was lower than the 28,934 people who cast a vote for Al Gore in the 2000 election.

Turnout was better than expected statewide after election officials dropped the requirement for voters to sign an oath binding them to the Democratic Party.

On Monday, the state party reconsidered its plan to require voters to sign a pledge that they considered themselves Democrats. The pledge was still offered to voters at many polling places Tuesday, though no one was required to sign it. Still, many Democrats asked to add their names, said Roy Millett, a poll worker at North Myrtle Beach High School, a polling place for voters in two Horry County precincts.

"They don't have to sign it," he said. "But quite a few did, anyway."