According to poll workers, the turnout at my polling place, the Pontiac precinct in Richland County, was “steady.” But when I was there, it was quite sparse with only about six voters in line and one or two casting ballots. And that was a little over an hour ago… the peak voting time.
I expect turnout will remain “steady” due to the “steady” rain and “steady” crappy weather. Not sure if this is good or bad news for anyone. Accounts from other precincts are about the same.
There are also reports that the voting machine malfunctions in Myrtle Beach have caused them to turn voters away. Yes, they are actually turning voters away. Bad news for John McCain.
UPDATE: McCain’s SC campaign manager Buzz Jacobs has just issued the following statement:
“We have received reports from Horry County that voters are being turned away from the polls, because electronic voting machines are not working and paper ballots are not available. Some voters say they are being instructed to return at a later time. We are disturbed by these reports and hope that this issue is resolved immediately. We encourage any voters who were turned away from the polls to return again to their polling place this afternoon to exercise their constitutional right to vote.”
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Primary Season, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
[...] - 12% Paul - 1358 votes - 12% Huckabee - 910 votes - 8% Thompson - 879 votes - 8% 1205hrs PST - “We have received reports from Horry County that voters are being turned away from the polls, because electronic voting [...]
“We encourage any voters who were turned away from the polls to return again to their polling place this afternoon to exercise their constitutional right to vote.”
Is there a right to vote in the S.C. Consitution? There certainly is not in the U.S. Constutition.
i saw where mcCain has filed a lawsuit against Horre County over the turning away of voters
To Bert:
The right to vote is in the U.S. Constitution. Amendment 26: “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States r by any State on account of age.”
It’s a real shame that people who consider themselves citizens are that ignorant.
[...] far, the SC GOP primary has been dogged with problems: voting machine malfunctions, voters being turned away from the polls and unusually low turnout. In response to some of these issues, McCain’s South Carolina State [...]
Fbiots, that doesn’t say anything about the right to vote, only that if there is a vote, those that are over 18 can’t be turned away solely for that reason.
Don’t throw rocks in a glass house.
[...] will “increase scrutiny of South Carolina Democratic primary voting Saturday to help avoid problems Republicans encountered during their contest last week.” Thankfully, this means the iVotronic will claim fewer [...]