‘A lot’ of complaints from county dwellers barred from voting in city election

Voting day for Myrtle Beach’s next mayor is here, and so far the biggest issue is confusion among county residents who have a Myrtle Beach address.

“The biggest issue we’ve had today is everybody in the county wants to vote today. Everybody’s calling complaining because their precinct’s not open,” said Sandy Martin, Voters Registration and Elections Director in Horry County.

Martin said confusion abounds among people who have a Myrtle Beach address, but technically live in an unincorporated area, not within city limits. Only city dwellers are eligible to vote in the Myrtle Beach mayoral election.

“We’ve had a lot of calls,” said Martin. She said callers have demanded to know why they can’t vote when they pay taxes, and Martin says she’s been explaining to them that they pay county taxes, not city.

“ ‘But I live in Myrtle Beach. I should be allowed to vote.’ We’ve heard that all day,” she said.

She said the mayoral elections have garnered interest among residents, who are itching to cast a ballot in the race.

“There’s been a lot of interest in these elections today ... It got a lot of people stirred up, so everybody thinks ... everybody should be able to vote.”

Martin said she’s had 100 or more calls from county residents raising questions about being able to vote in city elections.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 5:14 PM with the headline "‘A lot’ of complaints from county dwellers barred from voting in city election."