CONWAY, S.C. - After New Hampshire, South Carolina is next in line to cast ballots for who they think should win the presidential nomination. With the primary a little more than two weeks away, Horry County's election office is getting ready.
Even for a primary, the election office must prepare the same as they would for a general election. Right now, the voting machines are undergoing final tests and poll workers are being trained.
In a joint meeting Thursday, Voter Registration and Election Director Sandy Martin updated the Voter Registration and Election Commission on the upcoming election. Changes include a new longer procedure to make sure every vote cast on the PEB or personal electronic ballot is counted on election night.
"We go back and make sure the paper tape matches what she read in off the PEB, and if it doesn't, then we know that there's another PEB out there with votes on it somewhere," explains Martin.
Horry County is picking up the tab for the election which Martin says will likely reach the $100,000 mark. The state will reimburse them for expenses like poll workers, which are the most expensive. Martin adds the state will not cover "things like overtime for staff, temporary help, gas for rider trucks when we deliver our machines, cell phones, that sort of thing."
Martin says about 500 people have chosen to vote absentee and now voters can request an absentee application online. Martin says the new option helps "speed up the process."
The general election is still months away, but Martin is already considering ways to deal with the crowd since they're in a new building with a smaller waiting room. In the month leading up to the 2008 election, 15,000 people voted absentee, which included in office voting.
