First week of early voting. Four days in, which are the hot Beaufort County races?
The first four days of early voting in Beaufort County resulted in 700 ballots being cast, with the highest interest focused on the mayor and council races in the town of Bluffton, estimated Marie Smalls, the Beaufort County Director of Voter Registration and Elections.
The four early voting places will remain open next week through Friday as the county heads toward election day on November 7. The county has 159,701 registered voters and while the .4% turnout so far is “average” according to Smalls, early voting turnout can be “an indicator of the people’s interest in the election,” and that her and her team are prepared for “whatever crowd comes out small, very large or whatever.”
Bluffton’s municipal elections seem to be drawing the most interest Smalls said. Like Port Royal, Bluffton has both mayoral and town council candidates, but unlike Port Royal, Bluffton has more people running for town council than seats available. Port Royal has two open seats on the town council and only two candidates running for them. Also on this year’s ballot are record-setting school board referendum and three related bond referendums for Fripp Island residents.
The major themes of this election are choices voters will make on who speaks for them on issues including the pace of local development, the role the preservation movement, addressing the need for affordable housing and a decision on funding the county school’s strategic plan.
Smalls said it’s hard to compare this year to previous off year elections, because this year there’s only two weeks of early voting as opposed to the 30 days allotted in previous years,
Smalls said she expects that more people will show up to vote next week as the election draws closer.
“We encourage everybody to vote in every election,” Smalls said.
“It’s important that everybody takes that opportunity to vote,” she added. “During these two weeks of early voting, you don’t need an excuse to vote, so plan to come out and vote.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2023 at 2:48 PM.
