« Previous Entry | Main | Next Entry »

Posted: January 19, 2008 3:35 PM
Voters in South Carolina May Blame It on the Rain, Snow
Email This

South Carolina’s primary is known for being a GOP bellwether — since 1980, the Republican winner in the Palmetto State contest has gone on to win the party’s nomination — but bad weather and malfunctioning voting machines may spell trouble for overall turnout Saturday’s primary.

In Horry County, home to Myrtle Beach, some voters used paper ballots because some electronic machines were not properly tested before Saturday, state Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire told the Associated Press. He said a final testing step that resets a machine for voting was not done.

But a wintry mix of rain and snow could prove the biggest troublemaker in getting voters to the polls in the southern state. Pat Tanner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, told the AP that rain in the northern part of the state was expected to turn to snow by mid-afternoon and CNN reported that as much as 4 inches of snow could fall in the western and northern regions.

That much snow could easily snarl parts of the state, which is better known for its vacation spots than its snow-removal prowess — even in the hilly Upstate region.

Sen. John McCain, a contender for the top spot in South Carolina, eyed the cloudy skies as he did some last minute campaigning Saturday in Charleston, the New York Times reported.

“Doing a little last-minute primary day campaigning here this morning in a chill rain, Senator John McCain said, ‘I think if we have a decent turnout, it’s going to be fine,’” the Times politics blog said.

The Times report said the McCain camp was mulling the inclement weather as “an X-factor.”

The weather has experts pulling back from forecasts that 2008 could see a bigger turnout than 2000, when George W. Bush defeated McCain. In that primary, the AP reported, nearly 27 percent of the state’s registered voters — 565,000 people — voted, according to the state Election Commission.

Still, for those voters trekking out in the uncertain weather, immigration and world affairs appear to be top issues, the Greenville News found.

“I had a terrible time choosing between McCain and Huckabee,” retired teacher Marjorie Schaper, 87, told the Greenville paper. Schaper was ultimately swayed by McCain’s military service in Vietnam, where her son also fought. “I think he’s honest, I like him as a man and I think for him the country will come first.”

Polls are scheduled to close in South Carolina at 7 pm EST.