COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina voters did not wait for Election Day this year. The two-week early voting window closed at 6 p.m. Saturday with turnout at levels the state has never seen in a race for governor.
The state election commission declared the record broken on Oct. 26, nearly a week before early voting ended. By 3 p.m. that Monday, close to 564,000 ballots had been cast, edging past the 561,563 early votes recorded in the 2022 general election, the previous high for a gubernatorial year. The pace kept up through the final days.
The all-time mark remains out of reach for a midterm. In the 2024 presidential race, 1,471,663 South Carolinians voted early.
Charleston County offers a snapshot of the surge. On Friday the county took in more than 10,000 ballots in a single day, a record of its own, and its two-week total passed 89,000. That beat its 2024 early vote by about 20,000 ballots, a jump helped along by voters younger than 44.
Voters could use any early voting center in their county six days a week, with doors open from 8:30 in the morning until 6 in the evening on weekdays and Saturdays.
Anyone who has not voted still has Tuesday, with polls opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 7 p.m. Everyone voting in person will need an acceptable photo ID and should confirm their polling place first at scVOTES.gov. Mailed or hand-carried absentee ballots count only if the county office has them before polls close.
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