SC Voter Turnout Is Through The Roof

South Carolinians are voting in record numbers today based on preliminary turnout reports coming in from all corners of the state.

In a surge of voter participation that mirrors what’s taking place at the national level, Palmetto State residents are cramming into polling places from Charleston to Cherokee … and all points in between … to cast their ballots for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress and multiple state and local races.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of interest in this election,” Marci Andino – the executive director of the State Election Commission – told FITS this morning. “People were getting in line to vote as early as four and five o’clock this morning.”

Andino says voters should expect long lines given the high turnout, and urged them to “be patient” and make sure they brought their voter registration cards with them to the polls.

“I’ve talked to several voters who were in line at seven and by nine o’clock they were done,” Andino told us, which is obviously a lot faster than the six-hour wait some voters experienced last week during early voting.

So how many more South Carolinians are casting ballots this go-round?

“It’s hard to tell,” Andino told us. “As far as absentee numbers go, we were at over 350,000 absentee ballots counted as of yesterday. Last election we had 161,000. Obviously that won’t translate to twice as many people voting today, but it shows a higher interest level.”

We’ll have more on South Carolina’s record turnout throughout the day because let’s face it … turnout is really all there is to talk about before the results start coming in after 7:00 p.m. tonight.