Absentee voting in SC is easy — so South Carolinians should make good use of it
By mail or in person, absentee voting in South Carolina is like the reverse home mortgages described by veteran actor Tom Selleck: it’s safe, reliable and has been a common practice for a long time.
The Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Elections has already received 14,000 requests for mailed ballots, an increase of 5,000 from two weeks ago.
“On some days we get 1,000 a day,” said Sandy Martin, the county’s elections board director.
Nationally there are concerns about the U.S. Postal Service being able to handle the high numbers of mailed ballots that are sure to come flowing into election offices because coronavirus concerns.
And President Donald Trump has whipped up the fears an extra notch with his relentless, unhelpful claims that mail ballots are potential magnets for fraudulent behavior.
But while most of the noise about the mail-in voting issue is likely to be just that — political noise — that does not mean there are no isolated problems in some pockets of the country.
Unfortunately, the scattered issues elsewhere have created a ripple effect of misinformation in the Palmetto State as the November elections draw near.
Vote in person
Certainly Horry County is ready to smoothly handle absentee voting for the November elections.
The county will have four locations for in-person absentee voting and beginning Sept. 28, absentee voting will start at the Voter Registration and Election Office in Conway at 1515 4th Ave.
Meanwhile, from Oct. 5, through Nov. 2, registered voters can cast absentee ballots at three additional locations:
▪ The North Strand Recreation Center in Little River.
▪ The Carolina Forest Library.
▪ The South Strand Recreation Center in the St. James area.
A photo ID is required, just as it will be on Election Day at regular polling places.
An advance application is not required; eligible residents — registered by Oct. 3 — can simply go to a location.
Martin, who has run the Horry elections office for years, encourages voters to use one of the four locations to avoid lines on Election Day — and there are currently 17 reasons you can use to qualify to vote absentee.
These include:
▪ You’re 65 years of age or older.
▪ You have a physical disability.
▪ You will be caring for someone sick or physically disabled on Election Day.
▪ You will be on vacation outside the county on Election Day.
▪ Your employment will prevent you from going to the polls.
And hopefully the General Assembly will soon add an 18th reason — a “State of Emergency” provision due to the coronavirus pandemic. The General Assembly put that provision in place for the June primary elections, and it is under heavy pressure to do so again for the November vote.
Mailed ballots
Voting by mail is a multi-step process.
Applications to receive ballots by mail may be requested by phoning the Elections Office at (843) 915-5440 — or online at scvotes.gov.
The completed application must be mailed to the Elections Office.
Then — during the first week of October — ballots will be mailed to voters.
Ballots should be marked promptly and returned, because it can become problematic if not enough time is allowed for them to reach the Elections Office.
There is an option to mailing as well: completed ballots may be delivered to drop boxes at the four absentee voting locations. The ballots will be in sealed envelopes, and they will be picked up daily from the drop boxes.
The bottom line is this: absentee voting is well-established and relatively easy in South Carolina.
And as long as you mail in your ballot with plenty of time for it to arrive by Election Day, you can vote absentee with confidence that your vote will be counted — and that your voice will be heard.
Horry County voting info
Here is the contact information for Horry County residents seeking to vote in the November elections:
Horry County Board of Voter Registration and Elections
1515 4th Avenue
Conway, SC 29526
Phone | 843-915-5440
Online | www.scvotes.gov
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 7:10 AM.