LAURINBURG — A total of 120 people showed up at the Scotland County Board of Elections to cast their vote for the special election to fill the 9th District congressional seat at the One-Stop Early Voting on Wednesday.
Early One-Stop Voting will run through Sept. 6 and, on the first day, Director Dell Parker said a good number came to fill their ballot.
“It’s a special election, so you don’t know what to expect,” said Parker. “For the first day, it was a steady flow of voters.”
According to the absentee voting statistics, out of the 120 voters, 74 were Democrats, 11 Republicans, and 35 unaffiliated. Also out of the group to vote, 54 were white, 53 black, four Native American, and three Asian. There were 64 females, 51 male and five undeclared.
Parked previously told The Laurinburg Exchange that she hopes there will be a good turnout with the upcoming election since the Republican primary only had a 5.15% voter turnout in the county.
“I do hope we have a bigger turnout,” said Parker. “We should since it is a general election and the primary was just for Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Any registered voter can vote this time regardless of their affiliation.”
The general election is Sept. 10, but residents still have options.
Absentee by mail for the Special Election began July 26 and requests for absentee by mail must be received by the elections office by 5 p.m. on Sept. 3. The mail-in ballots must be received or postmarked by 5 p.m. on Sept. 10 and at the elections office by 5 p.m. Sept. 13.
Those wishing to register have until Aug. 16, but there will be same-day registration during the One-Stop Early Voting.
One-Stop is at the Board of Elections Office on East Cronly Street from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. There will not be One-Stop voting on Labor Day, but to make up for the closure there will be voting on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. — this is the only Saturday there will be voting held.
Those names that will appear on the ballot are Democrat Dan McCreedy, Republican Dan Bishop, Green Party member Allen Smith and Libertarian Jeff Scott.
For information, contact the Board of Elections at 910-277-2595.
