Thousands of Pee Dee voters register, seek absentee ballots

Pee Dee voter registration officials, preparing for record-breaking turnouts in November, said they’ve received thousands of new voter applications and requests for absentee ballots in recent weeks.

Oct. 4 was the deadline for voters to register in time to vote in the Nov. 4 general election.

Florence County received 10,730 new voter applications from January to Oct. 15, said Steve Love, Florence County interim voter registration and elections director.

“This is probably going to be the largest turnout that Florence County’s ever had, that the state’s ever had, that the nation’s ever had,” he said.

In Chesterfield County, about 600 residents submitted voter registration applications the day before the deadline, said Tommy Ballard, the county’s interim voter registration and elections director. Voter registration offices there weren’t open Oct. 4, a Saturday.

Statewide preliminary numbers show South Carolina in 2008 has added more than 240,000 voters to the rolls for a total of 2.5 million, according to the S.C. State Election Commission.

Throughout the Pee Dee, voting officials reported turnouts that vary based on county population, but said absentee voting is going strong and they expected to pick up even more.
Darlington County

Darlington County has gained about 3,300 voters since April, with two-thirds of those registering within the past two months, said Hoyt Campbell, the county’s voter registration and elections director.

The county has received 2,200 requests for absentee ballots and expects to surpass the 2,800 it received during the 2004 general elections, Campbell said.

Florence County

Voter registration officials here are working through a backlog of more than 3,200 voter applications submitted by the Oct. 4 deadline. But they expect to finish the job by Friday, the state’s deadline for submitting voter registration lists to be printed, Love said.

“We’re doing in the neighborhood of 400 to 500 (applications) a day on a normal day,” he said.

An iVotronic machine for absentee votes was placed Monday in the voter registration offices, and about 550 people had used the machine to cast absentee ballots as of noon Thursday, Love said.

Dillon County

About 1,185 new voters registered here between Sept. 18 and Oct. 4, raising the number of active registered voters to nearly 17,900, said Susie Edwards, the county’s voter registration and elections director.

In addition, absentee voting has been “pretty busy” with 414 walk-ins for electronic voting and 1,482 absentee ballot requests, Edwards said.

Marion County

About 776 new Marion County voters registered between Sept. 21 and Oct. 4, bringing the rolls to 24,705 active voters, said Teresa Moody, the county’s voter registration and elections director.

The county’s total of absentee ballots mailed out and completed on a voting machine is about 1,000, Moody said.

Marlboro County

The number of registered voters here rose about 620, bringing the county’s total to 15,593 active voters, said Lori Davis, the county’s voter registration and elections director.

Davis said she had no data on absentee ballots.

Williamsburg County

County Voter Registration Director Edith Redden said she had no estimate of new voter applications, which still are being processed. But she said nearly 1,000 voters have requested absentee ballots.