The South Carolina legislature passed a bill to allow “no excuse” early voting, which means you can now vote in the June 14 primary without giving a reason. Early voting is done in person at each county’s early voting center until Friday, June 10, excluding weekends. Any registered voter can visit an early voting center in their county to vote and must present photo identification when checking in to vote.
South Carolina has open primaries and does not have registration by party. In primary elections, you can vote in either party’s primary. When a party has more than one candidate running for the same position, the primary vote determines who will be on the ballot in November.
The field is packed this year, with multiple candidates running for governor, U.S. Congress, superintendent of education, the S.C. House of Representatives and other state and local positions. Primary voting turnout is historically low, with only 20 percent of registered voters participating.
The nonpartisan League of Women Voters has a Vote411.org tool with ballot information and candidate comparisons.
To learn more about voting in South Carolina, check out scvotes.gov. If you regularly work with college students, please let them know that they are allowed to register to vote at their permanent home addresses or the address where they live while attending Clemson. The nonpartisan group Campus Vote Project has information for college students about voting in all states.
To learn more about Clemson University’s student voter education efforts or to get further involved, check out Clemson Votes.