Voting

Voter Registration

Engagement in the political process frequently begins with registering to vote. Since January 1, 2008, registered voters in South Carolina increased by 10%, or 310,000 new registered voters. The largest increase demographically was 20% among voters ages 18-24. There were approximately 2,552,000 registered voters were eligible to vote in the 2008 general election, a record high in South Carolina. Also, more than 350,000 absentee ballots were issued throughout the state, far surpassing the previous record of 169,000 absentee ballots issued before the 2004 General Election.

Voter Turnout

If engagement in the political process begins with registering to vote, exercising the right to vote is the next step. Voter turnout is the percentage of the Voting Eligible Population (VEP) that cast a ballot that was counted on or before election day. Nationally, more than 130 million people turned out to vote in the 2008 presidential election, the largest number ever to vote in a presidential election. However, among countries where elections are held, the U.S. ranks poorly in terms of voter turnout. In 2001, the U.S. ranked 120th among these countries. Nationally, turnout among blacks and Hispanics is increasing and youth turnout is increasing. In the 2008 election 52% of the eligible youth voting population cast ballots, and blacks and Hispanics constituted 17% each of the youth electorate.

Figure 1 illustrates that turnout in presidential election years and state / congressional election years is traditionally higher than in local election years, and that S.C. turnout is below the U.S. average.

Although voter turnout in S.C. is low compared with other states, turnout for presidential elections has increased consecutively in 2000, 2004 and 2008 (Figure 2). In fact, from 2004 to 2008, the number of eligible voters casting ballots in S.C. rose by almost 12%, making South Carolina’s increase in turnout the second highest of all 50 states.

Among S.C. counties, Richland and Greenville had the biggest increase in numbers of residents voting between 2004 and 2008. Each of these counties increased numbers of ballots cast by more than 25,000.  Among the state’s fi ve largest urban counties, percentage increase in voter turnout between 2004 and 2008 was highest in Richland, York and Charleston (Figure 3).

Data reported by the S.C. Election Commission shows that voter turnout by county for the 2008 general election ranged from 68.97% in Marlboro County to 81.81% in McCormick County. Among peer counties, Spartanburg had the lowest voter turnout at 73.78%, while Greenville had the highest at 76.54% (Table 1).