After June’s chaotic primary election, Beaufort Co. official says Tuesday will be different
After June’s Primary election — where results were not updated until late into the night and some early voters received the wrong ballot — the Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections expects Tuesday’s general election to go more smoothly.
Election results will be updated as precinct results come in Tuesday night — a stark contrast to June’s primary election when the county posted no results until late in the night or early Wednesday morning.
This time, absentee and early votes will be posted first, followed by the results from North of the Broad precincts. Results from South of the Broad precincts are expected to come later.
Beaufort County’s geography makes getting vote tallies to “election central,” the board’s Beaufort office, a time-consuming process, said Marie Smalls, director of the Beaufort County Board of Voter Registration and Elections. The drive from Hilton Head Island to the Beaufort Office on John Galt Road can take an hour, she said.
Also, while the polls close at 7 p.m., anyone still in line, by law, must be allowed to vote. After everyone has voted, poll workers must verify the results, then pack up the voting machines.
Often, workers don’t leave their polling locations for 30-45 minutes after closing, Smalls said.
Attempting to get votes reported sooner, the Board of Voter Registration and Elections will send staff to polling locations to collect votes this year. Smalls estimates this could shave off up to an hour of wait time.
“Our goal is to have results posted as soon as we get them,” said Smalls. “I understand the anxiety and everybody wants to celebrate, but I think the voters and elected officials would appreciate the results being correct instead of rushed.”
Election results can be reviewed at scvote.gov on and after election night.
Midterms drawing early voters
Meanwhile, early voting, which began Oct. 24, ends at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at four locations in the county. As of 11 a.m. Friday, 22,205 people have voted in Beaufort County — 16% of the county’s total voting population of 138,787.
“I think so far, it’s been a real good turn out,” said Smalls.
This is Beaufort County’s first time offering early voting for a midterm election. Before only in-person absentee voting was offered.
In previous elections, voters needed a reason to use in-person absentee, so not everyone qualified, unlike this year’s early voting, where everyone is eligible to vote early if they chose.
In June, Beaufort County had an issue where about 70 voters received ballots with the wrong County Council seat, due to a glitch in redistricting. The issue was identified during early voting and fixed before election day, according to Smalls.
In order to rectify the issue, a second database of votes was created, which caused issues for election reporting. The two databases had to be merged manually, which is what caused the results to be completed almost a day later.
A recount was held three days after the primary election that certified the results as 100% accurate.
“June was a one time thing,” said Smalls. “It’s not an issue in the November election.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 11:26 AM.
