Bad weather, voting machine issues dog GOP primary in SC
By BRUCE SMITH
The Associated Press
SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. — Most of the 400 voting machines in a coastal South Carolina county didn’t work at the start of Republican primary voting Saturday and residents in at least one precinct were turned away when officials ran out of paper ballots.
It was not clear how many voters would be unable to make their choice known after up to 90 percent of Horry County’s voting machines failed to turn on when polls opened at 7 a.m. Most were back up and running by noon and officials said most residents used paper ballots. In the precinct where 18 voters were turned away, poll manager Ruth McConnell said workers took their phone numbers and called them back once the problems were fixed.
In all, between 15 and 20 of the 118 precincts in Horry County used paper ballots at some point through the day. Home to Myrtle Beach, the county tapped Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2000 and his campaign officials at one point Saturday contemplated court action to keep the polls open later. In the end, polls in Horry County closed on time at 7 p.m.
The State Election Commission blamed the problems on technicians not completing a final test required to reset the machines. Without the tests, the machines correctly remained off, according to commission spokesman Chris Whitmire. “As with any system, its performance is dependent on election officials following proper operating procedures,” the commission said in a statement.
Lisa Bourcier, a spokeswoman in Horry County, which is home to Myrtle Beach, said 80 percent of the roughly 400 machines that failed to function were running by noon and technicians fixed the rest later in the day. She said officials had heard reports of voters being turned away because of machine failures, but had no idea how many.
“There could’ve been some poll workers out there that probably didn’t know what to do,” Bourcier said.
In 2000, there were more than 27,000 votes cast in the county and McCain, who lost the state to George W. Bush, won 53 percent of the vote there.
Henry McMaster, McCain’s South Carolina co-chairman, said the campaign had worked with lawyers to consider whether to seek court intervention to keep the polls in the county open late. But McMaster, the state attorney general and former state GOP chairman, said a decision on that had not been made by late afternoon and it was not clear after polls had closed whether any legal action ever took place.
