SC early voting begins with record-breaking turnout. Many voters say redistricting is why.

ORANGEBURG — A record number of people cast their ballots Tuesday, the first day of early voting for South Carolina’s party primaries, with many saying they hoped to reduce the chances of a bill redrawing the state’s congressional maps becoming law.

Those voters got their wish.

Senators effectively killed the redistricting bill Tuesday afternoon, ending a GOP mad dash to draw new lines following a U.S. Supreme Court decision about Louisiana’s map.

Some Republicans who changed their positions pointed to the number of early votes for congressional candidates they would have to throw out as the reason why.

As of 3 p.m., 44,600 people had voted in-person, nearly doubling the previous record for a single day of early voting in a primary election. Just over 23,000 people cast their ballots on the final day of early voting in June 2024, according to the State Election Commission. In addition, the agency had received nearly 4,200 mailed absentee ballots as of Tuesday.

Polling places are open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday through June 5. Election Day is June 9.

Among those casting their ballots Tuesday at the Orangeburg County Voter Registration Office was U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state’s only Democrat in South Carolina’s congressional delegation.

The safely blue seat Clyburn has held since his first election in 1992 was at the center of the redistricting debate, as a map endorsed by the White House aimed to send seven Republicans to Washington — an effort some warned could make some races more competitive.

The proposed map would have drawn Clyburn’s home in Santee out of the 6th District and into the 2nd, potentially setting up a general election contest with U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, who’s held that seat since 2001. Clyburn said he would file to represent whatever district his Orangeburg County home fell into.

Clyburn lambasted the effort Tuesday. He accused Republican legislators who voted “yes” of bowing to the White House instead of doing what’s best for the people of South Carolina. He also thanked the Republican senators who stayed steadfastly opposed.

“Nothing has made me more incensed than to see this kind of imposition on the people of South Carolina,” Clyburn told reporters soon after he voted, which was hours before senators ended the debate.

The 86-year-old said he normally votes early — that the timing wasn’t due to the redistricting debate — and he encouraged other voters to do the same. From a practical standpoint, he said, no one knows what sort of catastrophe might strike the day of the election to keep a person from voting.

“But it took on an added meaning this time,” Clyburn said.

Clyburn echoed the pleas of Statehouse Democrats last week: “Vote early. Make them throw your vote out,” as Clyburn put it.

That message seemed to reach voters. More than a dozen of the hundreds of people who showed up to vote in Orangeburg, St. Matthews, West Columbia and Columbia on Tuesday told the SC Daily Gazette that’s the reason they came to the polls early.

Orangeburg

Rev. Derrick Cattenhead, a pastor at North Orangeburg United Methodist Church, got in line to vote just after 10 a.m. He wanted to get his ballot cast before the Senate gaveled in at 11 a.m. to discuss the redistricting bill, he said.

“I believe if we get out and vote in droves, we can still make a difference,” the 53-year-old said. “That’s the only way I think that we can really make a difference, especially in this climate, at this stage of trying to steal our votes and steal our rights and have no voice.”

Cattenhead voted early in previous years, but he made sure to show up earlier than usual Tuesday to “to let (legislators) know that, ‘Hey, we are here. We’re here, and we’re watching, and we’re listening.'”

Chris Samuelson, a 66-year-old retired nurse from Branchville, has voted early, absentee and on Election Day, but Tuesday marked the first time she’d come to the polls on opening day, she said. She, too, wanted to get her vote in before the Senate returned to the Statehouse, in the hopes of swaying Tuesday’s decision.

“Votes have already been cast,” Samuelson said. “Ballots have already been sent out, and votes have been received back. So, the election has started. I just feel like it’s wrong for them to disregard all of that and start it all over.”

Redoing the congressional election in August, as the bill would have done, would likely cause mass confusion among people who had already cast their ballot in that race, said Lacella Williams, a retired South Carolina State University administrator. She wasn’t sure whether she would return for a second primary if that did happen, she said.

“Once I put my vote in, I think that should be enough,” the 78-year-old said.

West Columbia

More than 200 people had cast ballots before 11 a.m. at the West Columbia early voting center, located in Lexington County, a GOP stronghold and home to Wilson.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about redistricting, and it made me a little nervous,” said Katie Mixon, a 46-year-old high school teacher from Cayce.

“I didn’t quite understand why this was necessary,” Mixon added. “So, I wanted to come out and see if there was any chance that my voting today could help make that not happen.”

The redistricting debate certainly motivated Ellen White and Nora Murray to turn out for early voting in West Columbia.

“I’m out because I want to see a change in politics. I would like to see more Democrats in this area,” said White, an 82-year-old retired human resources professional from Cayce.

The same was true for Murray, whose son, Joe Madge, is running as a Democrat to challenge Republican state Rep. Micah Caskey for the Statehouse seat he’s held since 2017.

Murray, an 80-year-old retired psychologist from Cayce, said South Carolina has long been a state known for its independence.

“It’s not what the people want. We know it’s all political,” she said of the redistricting push.

Columbia

At the Columbia Place Mall, home of Richland County’s elections office, a line of cars stretched half the length of the mall with voters waiting for curbside voting. Others clustered under umbrellas waiting to vote inside despite the rain. Several said redistricting wasn’t the only reason they showed up Tuesday, but it often made the list.

Thomas and Donna Harris, retirees living in Columbia, said their biggest concerns were rising prices for groceries and gas, but they didn’t like the redistricting effort much, either.

“We just want to exercise our rights,” 73-year-old Thomas Harris said, adding that he would be happy to see any Democrat elected.

For Columbia-based therapist Michelle Clay, casting her ballot is an important civic duty. Black women like her fought for decades to guarantee their rights to vote, she said. Redistricting only added to her sense of urgency.

Effort to redraw SC voting lines fails amid record start to early voting

“It’s incumbent upon me to make sure I vote every time there’s an opportunity to vote to honor” those who fought for voting rights, Clay said.

The proposed map divided Richland County, a Democratic stronghold, into three districts, the most splits of any county. It’s currently split between the 2nd and 6th districts.

Other voters showed up Tuesday for scheduling reasons. Sean Hall, who recently graduated from Winthrop University with a degree in psychology, didn’t really keep up with the redistricting debate because he was busy with school, he said.

Hall knows voting is important, though, and Tuesday was the only day he could make it to the polls.

“That’s what brought me out here, so I can make sure who I want is there when it’s time to vote” in the November general election, Hall said.

When that day comes, Clyburn said, he hopes to see people voting in the same numbers and with the same enthusiasm they had Tuesday.

“The key to all of this is not just to turn out votes on election day but to sustain them, and I think that is what’s going to tell the story this year,” Clyburn said.

Senior reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this report.