Horry County sees a 79 percent bump in 2020 Democrat Primary turnout compared to 2016
Former Vice President Joe Biden won the South Carolina Democratic Primary on Saturday. But with 100 percent of Horry County precincts in, what did the results mean locally?
Most significantly, the total ballots cast came close to doubling in Horry County. On Saturday, the county had 30,370 ballots cast, a 79 percent increase over 2016, when 16,916 voters participated, representing 8.95 percent of the 189,034 registered voters in Horry County. The increased turnout in 2020 was 13.02 percent of the 233,266 registered voters in the county.
Biden won Horry County with 43.82 percent of the local vote, according to unofficial results. This accounted for 13,281 votes total.
Coming in second was Sen. Bernie Sanders with 6,756 votes, or 22.29 percent of the total. He got 1,299 more votes than when he ran in the 2016 primary despite having more competitors this year, but in the last race he got an overall higher percentage of the vote, 32.43 percent.
Tom Steyer, who dropped out of the race following the results being revealed Saturday night, took third with 6,757 votes or 12.67 percent.
All other candidates received less than 10 percent of the Horry County vote. Pete Buttigieg took 6,757 votes; Elizabeth Warren received 1,724; Amy Klobuchar got 1,296; and Tulsi Gabbard came in last with 387 votes.
One factor unique to this year could have played into the increased turnout in the state. There was a Republican Primary in 2016, unlike in 2020, and in South Carolina you do not need to be a member of the party to vote in a primary.
Statewide results can be found on the South Carolina Election Commission’s website.
