Key races driving higher voter turnout in Horry County’s primary election
Several key races in Horry County this year are driving some of the highest voter turnout for a primary election the county has seen in recent years.
Sandy Martin, the county’s director of voter registration and elections, said that 40,541 people had voted in this year’s primary elections as of 3:45 today. That figure includes the 11,681 people who voted early over the past two weeks.
With 268,807 people registered to vote in this year’s primary in Horry County, that amounts to a voter turnout of 15%. Typically, Martin said, primary elections see closer to 10% or 12% voter turnout.
And, Martin said, that total is likely to climb with several hours of voting left, including the after-work “rush” from 5-7 p.m.
“We’ve still got a ways to go, that’s pretty high for a primary,” she said.
For comparison, Horry County saw a 16% voter turnout in 2018, the last midterm primary election. 2014, the midterm primary before that, saw a voter turnout of 13.6%.
Presidential election years tend to see higher turnout, and that was the case in 2020. That primary saw a 20.3% turnout, with 47,534 voters showing up at the polls.
Horry County voter turnout could beat those figures by the end of Tuesday.
Martin said that the higher turnout this year is likely explained by the number of high-profile races for voters to weigh in on.
“I think it’s because we’ve got the big congressional race, we’ve got a new House district in Horry County, we’ve got the governor on the ballot, we’ve got several county-wide races and council races. I think there’s just so many races it’s really drawing people in today,” Martin said.
Minor issues reported at polling stations
Amid the county’s high turnout, Martin said she’d only heard about minor issues at polling locations.
At Ocean Bay Middle School in the Carolina Forest area, she said, a gas leak at the school forced voting in the parking lot for about 30 minutes until the county fire department cleared the area.
The Horry County Fire Rescue also reported the incident on Twitter, which took place around 7:30 a.m. this morning.
Martin said mix ups with voters’ addresses is a perennial issue and her staff has been helping voters throughout the day find the right place to vote.
No other issues have been reported at polling locations.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 4:41 PM.
