Voters cast their ballots across Beaufort County today. Here’s what the polling turnout looks like

Sarah Haselhorst, Sarah Claire McDonald
·3 min read

Within the first few hours of Beaufort County polls opening to a chilly and cloudless off-year Election Day morning, voters trickled into local precincts, amassing about 4% turnout by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

This year, Bluffton and Port Royal have two candidates running for mayor. Bluffton also has a race of four people running for two open town council seats while Port Royal also has two candidates running for its two open seats.

Residents in other parts of Beaufort County will also vote on a $439 million school board bond referendum and multiple bond measures for Fripp Island totaling $5.2 million.

A little before 11 a.m., Board of Voter Registration and Elections Director Marie Smalls said 6,902 ballots had been cast in the county, including early voters. That equated to about 4% of Beaufort County’s registered voters.

“These numbers will vary, because they’re basing it on just having 150,000-plus voters,” Smalls said. “It’s gonna depend on what is in the Election Night reporting tonight when we get the actual end results.”

Across Beaufort County, voter turnout appeared low on the morning of the statewide November 7 general election. Just after 9 a.m., Bluffton Library, the polling location for the Bluffton 1A precinct seemed to have a trickling turnout. Last year, the same voting destination had lines out the door and an approximately hour or more wait in line for voters to cast their ballots. Sarah Claire McDonald

On Monday morning, early voters counted for about 2% of Beaufort County’s registered voters, Smalls told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.

While still early, a solid hour before the usual lunch crowd rolls in and several hours before the polls close at 7 p.m., Smalls said current turnout is normal.

In Bluffton and Port Royal, precinct locations’ parking lots were bare of cars and every so often a voter would stroll in. Several poll workers in Bluffton commented on the scarcity of turnout.

Across Beaufort County, voter turnout appeared low on the morning of the statewide November 7 general election. The Bluffton Recreation Center, located on Ulmer Road, was only used as a voting location for the Bluffton 3 precinct, which allowed voters to cast their ballots for the school board bond referendum. Poll workers continued to check out the door to scan the empty parking lot. They cited the morning’s turnout as very low and that most of the voters that turned up went to the location on accident. Voters can verify their precinct at SCvotes.gov. Sarah Claire McDonald

The quiet morning, slow to warm with heat and voters, was a stark contrast from a year ago during when parking lots were busy and lines formed outside of buildings. A time when a clerk at Hilton Head polling location said the wait due to “good turnout and not enough machines.”

Smalls urged young voters to get out, as the majority of ballots Tuesday morning had been cast by people between 65 and 74.

Electronic hiccups came up in the morning, Smalls said, adding that the issue — the poll books not working correctly — had been swiftly corrected.

“There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Election Morning,” Smalls said. “Now things will probably flow smoothly through the rest of the day.”