No lines, no trouble reported at Beaufort County polls, but results were delayed for hours
Attendance looked slim at voting locations in Beaufort County Tuesday morning and early afternoon.
But election results were delayed well into the night as the Beaufort County Election Board grappled with problems due to the recent redistricting that caused several names to be left off the ballot.
At 10:30 p.m., the board reported 38 of 98 precincts, sent out by email, but the rest of the results were further delayed.
“Due to the resolution of the recent redistricting error in Beaufort County, results from the county on the State Election Commission’s Election Night Results site will be delayed until all precincts have reported in Beaufort County,” the election board said.
“The resolution of the redistricting error was to deploy a corrected election database to the six affected precincts. Once all precincts have reported, the results from the six affected precincts can be merged with the unaffected precincts for state reporting.”
By 1 p.m., the remaining precincts were reported, except for two.
Local races included Republican contests for Beaufort County sheriff, county auditor and six County Council seats.
Voter turnout was 21.80%, according to the county.
Many of the voting locations appeared desolate for much of the morning with a select few eventually having a trickle of foot traffic around mid-to-late morning.
Despite this year’s primary being much-talked about, voters leaving the polls chose not to comment to a reporter about their selection process, views or overall selections after selecting their votes.
“Well, I really came to vote for Nancy Mace, who I was voting for, and for sheriff. Those were the two main people I came to vote for, and the governor of course,” said a woman who declined to give her name before leaving the Buckwalter Recreation Center voting location on Tuesday morning.
The smaller, day-of voting turnout could be a result of voters choosing to opt for the early voting process this year.
Voting locations were open today from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Among the most heated races in the county was the sheriff’s race between incumbent P.J. Tanner and his former captain Joey “JoJo” Woodward Jr. The winner of the primary will become sheriff because there was no Democratic challenger.
Primary elections historically have a smaller voting rate, which was seen at several local voting locations today, but the sheriff’s race was expected to potentially boost voter participation.
Voter turnout was sitting at 6.8% shortly after 1 p.m.
Despite the lack of crowds, Beaufort County elections officials said turnout was higher than expected for a primary in the summer. By 1:30 p.m., over 10,000 county residents had cast their ballots.
Go to islandpacket.com for updated election results.
Island Packet Reporter Sarah Haselhorst contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 2:30 PM.
