Voter Turnout In SC Lowest In At Least 4 Decades
File photo of someone voting. (Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The State Election Commission says voter turnout for Tuesday’s election was the lowest in at least 40 years.
About 44 percent of South Carolina’s registered voters cast ballots in an election in which all incumbents seeking re-election to statewide offices, congressional and state House seats won another term.
Agency spokesman Chris Whitmire says that marks only the second time that turnout dipped below 50 percent in a general election. That’s according to his review of records going back to 1974. The previous low was set in 2006 at 45 percent turnout.
Voters set a record for highest turnout in 2008. Nearly 76 percent of voters cast ballots when Barack Obama was elected president.
The largest voter turnout for a gubernatorial race in South Carolina was 64 percent in 1994.
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