South Carolina early vote total hits 1.04 million

The South Carolina Election Commission reported on Monday that 1.04 million residents cast ballots during the state's 12-day early voting window. This figure exceeds the 561,000 early votes recorded in the 2022 midterm election, marking a substantial increase in participation for a non-presidential cycle.

Voters in the state are choosing a new governor to replace the outgoing administration and selecting a successor for the late U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. The ballots also include contests for state representatives, county council members, and other local offices. Sample ballots are currently available on the election commission's website.

The current turnout is the second time since 2022 that early voting has surpassed the one-million mark. No-excuse early voting was implemented in the state in 2022. For comparison, 1.47 million people voted early in the 2024 General Election, which featured a presidential race.

As of Monday morning, 40,732 absentee ballots had been returned to the commission and accounted for. In terms of percentage turnout among registered voters, McCormick County led the state's 46 counties. In that county, 3,482 of 7,807 registered voters cast early ballots, representing a 44.6% participation rate.

Greenville County recorded the highest raw number of early votes in the state. Officials tallied 108,729 ballots from the county, which corresponds to 31.1% of its registered voters. The state will finalize these numbers as the election concludes.