What if Beaufort Co. held an election and nobody showed up? It may be close Tuesday
There’s a vote next week and if early ballot casting is a barometer of next Tuesday’s turnout, it looks like the percentage of voters who show up may struggle to get near double digits.
Early voting began Oct. 20 and ended Friday. Beaufort County has 140,000 registered voters but 31,085 are eligible to vote in the three upcoming municipal elections. Through the 9 days of early voting, said Jean Felix of the county board of voter registration and elections, 197 voters had cast ballots.
That equals 0.6% of the eligible registered voters.
“It’s really, really bad,” said Felix.
Voting in-person
In-person voters will go to the polls in Bluffton, Port Royal and Yemassee on Tuesday, where 13 candidates are fighting for seven town council seats.
So far, the three local elections, which feature two contested races for town council seats and a three-way battle for mayor, have not drawn much interest from local voters, based on early voting returns.
Turnout at municipal elections in off-year elections is typically low, Felix said. Off-year elections fall in odd years when there is no presidential or midterm election.
When and where to vote
With polls from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, there’s still time to improve the dismal turnout percentage.
All the information on candidates and polling locations can be found at the website for the South Carolina Elections Commission at scvotes.gov or the county elections office.
If precinct locations have changed, signs with directions also will be posted at old polling places, she said.
The candidates
Contested races are on the ballot in Port Royal and Yemassee.
Three candidates -- Darryl Owens, Mary Beth Gray Heyward and Angie Tillman -- are running for two seats on the Port Royal Town Council. The two candidates with the most votes will win four-year terms.
Voters in Yemassee will cast ballots for two Town Council seats and the mayor. Yemassee straddles both northern Beaufort County and Hampton County.
The candidates for Yemassee mayor are Ben BT Fennell, Libby Holloway and Colin Moore, the incumbent.
The town council candidates are Jay Cook, Stephen Henson, Lori Goodwin Poston, Jerry Thompson and Alfred Washington. Incumbents David Paul Murray and Stacy Pinckney are not running.
In Bluffton, Emily Vaux Burden and Fred Hamilton are unopposed for two seats.
Voter turnout so far
Early voting, which began Oct. 20, ended on Friday.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 12:34 PM.
