Early voting is here for June primary, begins Tuesday; Sumter County will have 3 locations for new initiative

The political motto still holds true: "If you want your candidate on the ballot in November, it's best to vote in the primary," and the state has now made that process easier with early voting.

There is true early voting in South Carolina now for the first time ever after lawmakers passed the measure earlier this month, and voter registration officials in the tri-county area spoke on the initiative that starts Tuesday for the June 14 primary.

Early voting allows registered voters in the state to vote outside of Election Day without an excuse. For many years, South Carolina has allowed people to cast absentee ballots in person, but they had to include an excuse for why they could not be at the polls on Election Day. With early voting now, the state returns to only mail-in absentee ballots and for specific excuses.

Voter turnout with primaries is typically low because individuals must pick one party's primary to vote in, but the aforementioned motto still is true. Only one local political race in each of the three counties has opposition, but there are plenty of state primary races with multiple candidates running.

Registered voters can view their sample ballot from the scvotes.gov website and then click on "Get My Sample Ballot" from the middle of the homepage.

Because of the short time period between the General Assembly passing the early voting law on May 12 and upcoming elections, some officials - including Isaac Cramer, executive director of Charleston County's Board of Elections - think the vast majority of votes will still be cast in person on June 14. But, he told Associated Press, he expects early voting to represent about 50% of ballots cast in November's midterm election.

"Voters are going to want and expect early voting," Cramer said. "I think those numbers are just going to keep trending up."

Early voting begins Tuesday in all counties in the state, including Sumter, Clarendon and Lee, and runs through Friday, June 10. Locations are closed Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5. Hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at all sites.

Every county is required to have at least one polling place for early voting. Sumter has three locations; Lee has two sites, and Clarendon has one.

Sumter's locations are the old Sumter County Courthouse, 141 N. Main St.; the former F.J. DeLaine Elementary School, 5355 Cane Savannah Road, Wedgefield; and the former St. John Elementary School, 4515 Narrow Paved Road, Lynchburg.

On June 14 for the party primaries, all county precincts/polling places will be open, according to officials.

For party races where no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the primary, runoffs will be later. Sumter County's runoffs will be June 28, according to Pat Jefferson, county Voter Registration and Elections director. There will also be early voting dates in late June for the runoff.

With the county redistricting process following the 2020 Census, some voters' districts may have changed, but voters' precincts did not, Jefferson added.

Also, important to note is the upcoming early voting dates and primary are only for partisan races, Jefferson said, and do not include local nonpartisan races for Sumter School District's Board of Trustees and Sumter City Council.