Why I Hate Voting In South Carolina

It’s the lines. I’ve lived and voted in six states: New York, Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and South Carolina. I’ve never experienced long weights anywhere else like I do in SC. In November 2000 it took me four hours to vote. It hasn’t been quite that bad since, but I’ve never managed to vote in less than an hour, even in “off years.” It never took me more than twenty minutes to vote anywhere else. This disparity is partly because other states provide more voting facilities than South Carolina does. For example, California precincts allocate 1 voting machine for every 200 voters. In South Carolina, the law requires only 1 machine for every 250 voters. From the South Carolina Code:

SECTION 7-13-1680. Number of voting machines; type and use; repair; custody. [SC ST SEC 7-13-1680] The governing body of any county or municipality providing voting machines at polling places for use at elections shall provide for each polling place at least one voting machine for each two hundred fifty registered voters or portion thereof or as near thereto as may be practicable. The machines shall be of the type approved as provided for in this title and shall be kept in complete and accurate working order and in proper repair. The machines may be used in such election districts or precincts in the county or municipality as the officials holding the election or conducting the primary may determine. The governing body of the county or municipality owning the machines shall have custody of such machines and other furniture or equipment of the polling places when not in use at an election.

In Ohio in 2004, in precincts that averaged 170 voters per machine, some people had to wait five hours to vote. My precinct had 8 machines for 2,076 voters this morning (1093 women and 983 men), one machine for every 259 and a half voters. The polling places in SC are open from 7 am to 7 pm. If all the registered voters show up, each machine will have to accomodate 21.72 voters per hour, which would be highly unlikely. It took me 90 minutes to vote (most of which I spent in line), during which time at most twelve other people voted. Some politicians blame this situation on the voters, claiming they inadequately prepare ahead of time, and then take too long to vote, reading and re-reading the proposed statewide constitutional amendments that are on the ballot interminably. Well, I’m glad people read the proposed amendments carefully. Who wants to accidentally vote for hate? Who wants to accidentally vote to have poor and middle class taxpayers subsidize the McMansions of the rich? (“Balanced” overviews of all of the proposed constitutional amendments on the SC ballot are available here and here.)

The brand new, HAVA funded electronic voting machines (which lack a paper back-up, naturally) are complicated to use. After I selected all my candidates and weighed in on all the proposed amendments at issue I got to a screen that told me to touch the “vote button” when I was finished making my selections, but I couldn’t find a “vote button” anywhere on the screen. What I actually needed to do, it turned out, was touch the “next button.” After I touched “next” I needed to push an analog vote button that wasn’t even on the touch screen, but on a different part of the voting machine altogether, several inches above it. A poll worker had to point it out to me. I pushed it and can only hope my votes registered correctly.

–Ann Bartow