Give us your polling place update
Jonathan Pait
June 8, 2004
10:35 PM - I just got off the phone a moment ago with a friend that works on the Ravenel campaign. We were actually on the phone about something unrelated to the Senate race. It was at that moment the numbers came in from Lexington county where Ravenel hoped to do very well. Over the phone I heard the counting. In the end, DeMint pulled off the second place finish with Ravenel VERY close behind.
"Beasley is toast!" My friend said. I asked him if Ravenel was planning on coming out in public support of DeMint. "Oh yes, we'll be doing fly arounds with DeMint!"
I then gave a call over to the Beasley campaign - not really planning on being able to speak to anyone, but just to catch a glimpse of the energy there. The aid I talked with didn't seem to jumping up and down with happiness.
Has Beasley won the battle but lost the war? Two weeks will tell.
Finally, I am going to have to sleep on this county business. There is a whole lot to assimilate! Hey, but guess what? Scott Case won! Though you can bet that Hipp will be claiming the "moral victory." He was the first soldier to hit the beach for the "progressives" in Greenville. He took the hit for them so that they could continue the advance. We shall see . . .
7:56 PM - I'm sitting here waiting for the numbers from the primary election. I did read in a piece in The Greenville News that indeed someone did show up looking for Hayne Hipp and found that he wasn't on the ballot.
"'They weren't on the ballot,' said Sue Zann Norris, a 52-year-old teacher at Sara Collins Elementary who had expected to vote in that race. 'They called my house twice yesterday and we have signs all over the place. My mistake, I guess.'"
Update (3:45 PM) - Just got back from the polling place for precincts 1 and 28. At 3:00 PM there had been 260 Republican primary votes and 17 Democratic primary votes. For precinct 1 it was 169/17.
Just got off the phone with a friend who explained a little bit about the Fairview polling place incident. Seems there was a whole bunch of ineptness at the poll. Police were called and the election office sent out replacement workers to try to rectify the situation.
Update (3:05 PM) - Correction. That Survey USA data was not an exit poll but a survey. So obviously, it is not a snap shot of voters' actions today.
Update (2:05 PM) - WORD 1330 AM announces that according to exit polls Beasley is in the lead (trending down) followed by Ravenel and DeMint. Charlie Condon is running a distant third.
I voted this morning at the polling place for Greenville County Precinct 27. Turnout was not bad for a primary day. There had been 250 votes casts by lunch.
Give us an update of your precinct by posting a comment to this column. Give us your precinct and how many folks have voted since the doors opened. If you can, see if you can get a break down of how many voted Democrat and how many voted Republican. Interesting stories about the experience are always fun as well.
Here in Greenville, word is that voting is "brisk" around the contested areas. JAMZ 107.3 FM is urging black voters to get out and vote for the Republicans in an attempt to unseat what Ennis Fant calls the "evil, mean-spirited" County Council members.
I'd be curious to know if any voters show up at a precinct outside of District 20 asking why Hayne Hipp isn't on the ballot there. With all the attention and money that has gone into his campaign, he could have run for State Senator or something.
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