Beaufort Co. voters are reporting absentee ballot problems. Officials are overwhelmed
Like many Beaufort County residents who are voting absentee, Paisley Dodds will not be able to make it to the polls Nov. 3. It’d be a long commute — Dodds, an investigative journalist, lives in London but owns a home in Beaufort.
Dodds’ experience voting this year has been unusual, she said, with the county Board of Voter Registration and Elections requiring her to scan her ballot and voter declaration and send them back.
“It’s kind of a crazy system,” she said. “I had never actually done this before, and I’ve been living in London for 15 years.”
Dodds said she never got any written confirmation from the board that her ballot had been received, making her worry that her vote will not count. Screengrabs she captured from scvotes.gov, where voters can check whether their ballots have been received, indicate that her ballot has been sent out but not received back.
She said she spoke with an elections official who said her ballot had been received but the online system had not yet updated it because there are so many to process.
Marie Smalls, the board’s director, said voters who email their ballots should get an email letting them know it has been received.
Dodds is one of many Beaufort County voters with concerns about their absentee ballots being counted in the general election. Across the country, fears about ballots being thrown out or not reaching their intended destinations have intensified in recent months as President Donald Trump and others have sought to discredit the validity of mail-in ballots, which have increased in popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘We’re doing the best we can’
Beaufort County voters’ concerns about absentee ballots span a range of issues. Some worry their ballots will not be processed, but others have not received their ballots after requesting them weeks ago. Some elderly voters acknowledged that without computer skills, it’s been difficult to figure out how to navigate the process. But those with questions struggle to reach representatives from the overwhelmed and understaffed board.
“We’re doing the best we can and trying the best we can,” Smalls said.
As of Thursday evening, 43,168 absentee ballots had been issued across the county, including mail-in ballots and in-person voting. Of those, 36,473 have been returned to the board. Seven hundred thirty-eight absentee ballots had been issued to U.S. citizens covered under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, of which 297 had been returned.
At a voter board meeting Wednesday, Smalls announced that 275 ballots had already been thrown out due to a lack of voter or witness signature.
Tesha Hyde, of Bluffton, has not yet had a chance to vote. Hyde said she and her husband requested their absentee ballots on Sept. 23 but did not receive anything. Last Monday, people in her Nextdoor group talked about receiving their absentee ballots.
The Hydes began checking into it. “The county doesn’t even answer the phone. They won’t respond to emails. We went ahead and just resubmitted [an absentee ballot request] via email. I haven’t even been able to talk to one person there.”
Hyde counted six other people who commented on her Nextdoor post that they have not received their absentee ballots, either.
Smalls said it is not normal to have taken a month to receive a ballot, but her staff is continuing to process applications for absentee ballots.
“All you do is apologize to those voters and let them know that they will be in the mail as quickly as we can,” she said. “We are inundated.”
The deadline to request an absentee ballot by email, fax or mail was Saturday, Oct. 24. To request one in person or with an authorized representative, the deadline is Oct. 30. The deadline to vote in-person absentee is Nov. 2. All absentee ballots must have a witness signature, witness address and voter signature.
As long as they are returned on time and filled out correctly, ballots will not be thrown out, Smalls said.
With the election about one week away, Smalls knows she is one of the busiest people in Beaufort County.
“My employees ... stay here until 8:30 at night,” Smalls said, processing mail-in ballots and emails in the later hours.
She said the nine-person staff had expected a high volume but were caught off guard by the avalanche of emails. Smalls said the office receives hundreds of calls each day, and her staff cannot get to all of them.
Fortunately, she said, many people are understanding. Above all, they are excited to vote, showing up hours before polls open at 9 a.m. to make sure they have a chance to cast their vote.
“6 o’clock, people are in line [at Beaufort],” Smalls said.
This story was originally published October 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
