A man participates in exit polling after voting in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary at Dreher High School on Feb. 24, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — South Carolina residents have just days left to register to vote in the November general election. The normal deadlines apply, despite any complications from Tropical Storm Helene.
The deadline to register in person at a county election office is 5 p.m. Friday. Residents can also register to vote online until 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Registration forms can be mailed in as long as they’re postmarked no later than Monday.
However, some residents may have limited options following Helene’s destruction, including in Spartanburg, the state’s fifth-most-populous county.
State offices in Spartanburg and Laurens counties are expected to still be closed Thursday, nearly a week after the storm moved through the state. Closures include election registration offices, according to John Michael Catalano, spokesman for the state Election Commission. Until Wednesday evening, offices in McCormick, Edgefield, and Saluda were also listed as closed.
Residents can check the state Emergency Management Division website to see if state government offices in their county, including election offices, are open.
“Most counties are open for in-person registration, but you still have options if your county has remained closed,” Howard Knapp, director of the state Election Commission, said in a statement.
Registering online takes only a few minutes, if residents’ information in the state Department of Motor Vehicles database is up to date, he said. If not, Knapp encouraged people to mail in a voter registration form as soon as possible.
The Spartanburg election office does not have a date when it will reopen, according to an email sent on Wednesday by John Baucom, the county election director. A copy of the email was shared with the SC Daily Gazette.
“This disaster has impacted all of us in ways that this area has not seen in decades,” Baucom wrote.
Residents can register to vote while getting services from some other state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles. Even if offices in Spartanburg are closed, those in neighboring counties are operating normally, Baucom wrote.
For Spartanburg residents who want to register by mail but cannot print the form at home, they may be able to visit one of several Spartanburg County libraries that are operating on a modified schedule to download and print the form there.
By state law, voters must register 30 days prior to an election in order to cast a ballot. State agencies cannot change that deadline, but a court can extend it.
Following Hurricane Florence in 2018, state Attorney General Alan Wilson sued for and received a court order extending the voter registration deadline by 10 days. A spokesperson for Wilson’s office said Wednesday that the attorney general has not filed anything so far in the wake of Helene, but he is monitoring the situation.
Abby Zilch, a spokesperson for the state Republican Party, said the party is still reminding people to register ahead of the deadline but does not think the storm closures will cause voting problems.
“I don’t think it’s going to impact anything significantly,” she said.
The state Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked about voter registration, a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. William Timmons, who represents Spartanburg and Greenville counties, said constituents have mostly been reaching out for help with power, water and receiving federal assistance, not voter registration.
Kathryn Harvey, the Democratic party chair for Spartanburg who is running to oust Timmons, said the county party had received two or three requests to help with voter registration since the storm. Harvey said the party has been encouraging residents for months to check their voter registration and make sure it is up to date, and she hopes for a “groundswell” of registrations in the Upstate.
Nearly 3.4 million people are registered to vote in South Carolina, according to the state Election Commission. There are 4.2 million people of voting age in the state, according to Census estimates updated in July.
To register to vote online, visit https://vrems.scvotes.sc.gov/ovr/start