South Carolina editorial roundup: Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024

Times and Democrat

Dec. 30

S.C. voters can play big role in 2024 races

The presidential election year has arrived. South Carolina will again play a pivotal role with Democratic and Republican primaries early in the cycle for both parties.

The story lines are many, but the overriding interest is whether anything can derail the march toward a rematch between Democrat Joe Biden, the president, and Republican Donald Trump, the former president.

South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn was out front in a move that took away the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as the earliest tests among Democrats.

South Carolina's Democratic primary is now first nationally, with voting taking place on Saturday, Feb. 3.

With South Carolina being instrumental to Biden securing the nomination in 2020, most predict he will get a big boost here again despite any concerns about his age and other issues.

The presidential primary season is South Carolina's major opportunity to influence the presidential race. Come the November campaign, Biden as the nominee will not be paying attention to a state that has not voted for a Democrat for president since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

By extension, the Republican nominee, whether Trump, Haley or other, will automatically put South Carolina in the win column.

So the tables are being set for a national focus on our state by both parties for the first weeks of 2024. If you wish to have your voice heard, the time to act is now.

In order to vote in the Democratic primary, voters must register by Thursday, Jan. 4. That is just days away.

Anyone wishing to vote in the Feb. 24 GOP primary must register by Thursday, Jan. 25.

Beyond registration deadlines are other key rules, including a state law prohibiting a voter from participating in both primaries. You do not have to register as a Republican or Democrat for any election, but you must choose one party's primary.

And you don't have to wait until the primary election days to vote. You can vote at any early voting center in your county during the early voting period. Simply bring your photo ID and vote just like you would at your polling place on Election Day.

The early voting period for the Democratic presidential primary starts on Monday, Jan. 22, and ends Friday, Feb. 2.

The early voting period for the Republican presidential primary starts Monday, Feb. 12, and ends on Thursday, Feb. 22.

You can visit scVOTES.gov or contact your county voter registration office to find a list of early voting locations.

As the Palmetto State gets more and more attention in the presidential race, many people will decide they want to be a part of the voting. Pay attention to the voting regulations if you wish to be eligible.

Post and Democrat

Jan. 2

Haley's still best GOP choice, despite pandering Civil War answer

Nikki Haley's response to a New Hampshire voter's question about the cause of the Civil War was an embarrassment. Even if you want to believe that other issues played an important secondary role - and the men who withdrew South Carolina from the union in 1860 couldn't think of any other issues to include in their 2,182-word explanation of their decision - there is simply no denying that slavery was the driving issue.

Her omission of that simple word, and her attempt to recast the war as a battle over "how government was going to run" and "freedoms and what people could and couldn't do," was actually surprising. Not because this was new language for her: She has relied on this sort of argument throughout her political career - along with her more familiar assurances that the Confederate flag represented heritage, not hate - because she knows that's the sort of thing you have to say to win a Republican primary in South Carolina, where too many voters either believe it or know better but still want to hear it.

It was a surprise because she ought to realize that Republicans in other parts of the country know the war was about slavery. She ought to realize that Republicans in other parts of the country are not ashamed to trace their political lineage to the Republican presidential candidate whose 1860 election prompted South Carolina to secede.

She ought to realize, too, that "What do you want me to say about slavery" is never going to come off well in response to someone challenging a no-slavery answer, no matter how innocent and low-key you try to play it.

But none of that is reason not to vote for the former S.C. governor in the Republican presidential primary. And none of it is reason not to vote in the Republican presidential primary.

It would be easy to vote for someone else if Ms. Haley were running against George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln - or Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush … or even George W. Bush. But they're not available, and the main candidate she is running against created an elaborate hoax about a stolen election, urged his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent the certification of the election results and then waited two hours to call them down after they stormed the Capitol - as many believed he had directed them to do. The candidate she is running against has said he plans to exact vengeance on his enemies and wants to be a dictator on day one. Maybe he's joking, but really, what person who is fit to run the greatest nation on the planet would even joke about such things? Repeatedly.

Regardless of how inaccurate it is, playing to what you perceive to be your political base on what caused the Civil War - and at least she acknowledged the next day that "of course the Civil War was about slavery " - is barely worth an asterisk when stacked up against the sins of her opponent.

Yes, there are other Republicans in the race who aren't confused about the driving cause of the Civil War - or who aren't afraid to offend Southern Republicans by telling the truth. But Ms. Haley is the one who has momentum and who has the best chance of winning the Republican nomination and frankly the one who is most likely to do the job well. Her chances never have been good, and last week's Civil War flub didn't help them - at least not outside the South - but she still has a better shot at it than any of her competitors.

We can't count on Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump a second time. And most South Carolinians don't want him to; they would prefer to have a Republican nominee they can vote for without fear that maybe that wasn't a joke about being a dictator and exacting vengeance on his enemies. That means we need to do all we can to make sure Mr. Trump is not on the ballot in November. That means voting in our state's Feb. 24 Republican primary and voting for Nikki Haley.