Election overview: How many Beaufort Co. voters turned up to the polls this year?
As the country waits on results from swing states for the presidential election and some high-profile congressional races, Beaufort County has finished its unofficial vote tally and has started the extended process of certifying ballots.
Here are the takeaways:
High turnout, but no record
This year, many more people voted than in any year in recent memory.
But the turnout was no record. Preliminary results indicate that 98,185 of 139,330 registered voters cast ballots this year, yielding a 70.47% turnout. That’s lower than in 2008, when 76.33% of people turned out, and 2004, when 71.38% of people turned out. Roughly the same percent turned out in 2016 as in 2020.
The rate surprised Beaufort County elections director Marie Smalls.
“With all the publicity, and with all the people that were turning up, I would think there would be more people,” she said.
Beaufort County’s turnout is just below South Carolina’s statewide voter turnout of 70.71%.
At the same time, this election marked a 23% increase in the number of ballots cast and voters registered in the county from 2016, according to preliminary data provided by the Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections and the South Carolina Elections Commission.
By comparison, Beaufort County’s population increased by roughly 4.9% between 2016 and 2019, the most recent year for which Census data is available. Between 2010 and 2019, the population grew from just over 162,000 to 192,000, for an increase of 18.4%.
With restrictions on who could vote absentee dropped due to the coronavirus pandemic, most Beaufort County voters — 57.9% — chose to vote absentee, with 33,591 voting in-person absentee and 23,286 voting by mail, according to preliminary results.
On Thursday, Smalls said the election board was still counting absentee ballots from overseas voters and members of the Armed Forces. The process of certifying vote counts began Friday morning, and an official said late Friday they still had many more ballots to go.
Smalls said the number of mail-in ballots came as a surprise to her and her team, who worked from polls’ closure at 7 p.m. Tuesday until roughly 3 a.m. Wednesday to count votes before starting again later that morning.
“It really was a lesson learned about the mail-in ballots,” Smalls said. “That was an eye opener.”
Positive showing for GOP, incumbents
The Republican Party performed well in solid-red Beaufort County, helping to deliver reelections to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, state Sens. Chip Campsen (District 43) and Tom Davis (District 46) and state Reps. Bill Herbkersman (District 118), Jeff Bradley (District 123) and Shannon Erickson (District 124). Republican State Rep. Weston Newton (District 120) ran unopposed.
In a race that held the attention of the Lowcountry beyond Election Day, Rep. Joe Cunningham, a Democrat, lost his 1st District seat in Congress to Republican Nancy Mace by 1.26%. Cunningham, who was elected in 2018 to represent all or sections of Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Beaufort and Colleton counties, announced Friday that he had conceded to Mace, more than two days after the Associated Press had called the race in Mace’s favor.
Mace won Beaufort County with 54.59% of the vote, though Cunningham did better among absentee voters. Locally and nationwide, more Democrats voted absentee than on Election Day.
Still, some long-serving Democrats handily won their districts, including U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (District 6), state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews (District 45) and state Reps. Michael Rivers (District 121) and Shedron Williams (District 122).
Local results reflected statewide trends as well, with incumbents hanging onto their seats and Republicans maintaining leadership over the county. In the sole contested County Council race, Democrat Jodie Srutek lost to Republican Logan Cunningham in a bid for the District 7 seat, while School Board incumbents Earl Campbell (District 1) and Christine Gwozdz (District 9) kept their seats against challengers.
At the municipal level, however, residents can expect to see some familiar faces come into positions of power.
In the City of Beaufort, City Councilmember Stephen Murray beat former Councilmember Mike Sutton for mayor. City Council seats went to longtime Beaufortonian Neil Lipsitz and Sheldon native Mitch Mitchell.
And on Hilton Head Island, Native Islander leader Alex Brown defeated Hilton Head Plantation general manager Peter Kristian for the Ward 1 Town Council seat.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 9:42 AM.
