Voting Problems In One South Carolina County
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- South Carolina voters in Horry County reported having problems casting votes today. In some precincts, the electronic voting machines were not working when the polls opened.
John McCain's South Carolina campaign director Buzz Jacobs issued the following statement this afternoon: "We have received reports from Horry County that voters are being turned away from the polls, because electronic voting machines are not working and paper ballots are not available. Some voters say they are being instructed to return at a later time. We are disturbed by these reports and hope that this issue is resolved immediately. We encourage any voters who were turned away from the polls to return again to their polling place this afternoon to exercise their constitutional right to vote."
Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier told the Associated Press that officials had heard those reports of voters being turned away, but she had no
idea how many.
"There could've been some poll workers out there that probably
didn't know what to do," Bourcier said.
CBS News has confirmed that Horry County was having problems with voting and that 15 to 20 of the county's 118 precincts went without working machines.
Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the state election commission said voters were offered paper ballots as a substitute. Those paper ballot votes will be counted by an optical scanner and the county board of election headquarters or by hand.
A senior McCain campaign official tells CBS News, "We are taking it very seriously and our legal team is working to get more information as we speak. Hearing reports that problems are widespread and people are voting on scraps of paper, even matchbooks."
Horry County includes Myrtle Beach, and the McCain camp says this is a very pro-McCain area. As the 7pm deadline approaches when polling centers are scheduled to close, the McCain camp is considering asking a judge to extend voting hours in Horry County.