voting

From the Upstate to the Lowcountry, absentee or early voters are making their way to the polls in droves.  The state election commission estimates more than one million absentee ballots could be cast in South Carolina.

This episode of the South Carolina Lede for October 27, 2020, features: the voices of voters from around the state a week out from Election Day; a look at efforts to prevent domestic violence in South Carolina; the importance of getting the flu vaccine is this winter; and more.

The 19th amendment promised women the right to vote would not be denied because of gender.  But it was an empty promise for women with dark skin.

"It's an historical legacy that can't be ignored because it's inconvenient," says Sandra Slater.  She's an associate history professor at the College of Charleston and the director of the school's Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program.

Slater has been talking a lot about the suffragist movement this year as part of the centennial celebration of the passage of the 19th amendment.

Voters with disabilities have always faced a lot of obstacles, but they’ve also always had a choice – voting absentee.

Now, a combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the politicization of the U.S. Postal Service is forcing a different kind of choice onto disabled voters – do they risk going out among people to vote during a pandemic or risk having their votes not count?

   South Carolina’s voting machines were purchased in 2004.  For electronics, that’s old.  Computer technology advances quickly and needs replacing frequently.  Nevertheless, S.C. Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire and USC Computer Science Professor Duncan Buell believe that with caution, the state’s machines may get through this fall’s election with few problems.