Monday, Nov. 02, 2009

Voting tips can ease trip to polls

Registered voters in Horry and Georgetown counties and Brunswick County, N.C., will be asked to cast ballots in several hotly contested local elections Tuesday.

For first-time voters, and as a reminder for the seasoned ballot casters, we talked to the elections commissions in all three counties about the rules and some helpful hints for special circumstances. S.C. polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m., and anyone still waiting in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote. In Brunswick County polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Here are some tips from Donna Mahn, director of the Georgetown County department of Voter Registration and Elections; Lynn Marlowe, assistant in the Horry County department of Voter Registration and Elections; and Greg Bellamy, director of the Brunswick County, N.C., Board of Elections:

Q. | How can people find their polling place/precinct?

S.C. | In Georgetown County, voters can call 545-3339. In Horry County, voters can call 915-5440. If your address is up to date, your voting precinct is listed on your voter registration card. If you've lost your card, you can call the election offices listed above, or you can go to www.scvotes.org/find_your_precinct and enter your address to check your registration and precinct.

N.C. | Go to www.brunsco.net and select Board of Elections from the pull-down list titled "Departments." Select polling places/precincts from the list on the left of the page to see a map of precincts and even pictures of your polling place. If you still need help, call the Brunswick County Board of Elections at 910-253-2620.

Q. | What should people bring to the polling place with them?

S.C. | Voters should bring one of the required forms of identification: a current driver's license, current voter registration card or current ID issued from the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles. Voters must be a resident of their municipality 30 days before the election to be eligible to vote.

N.C. | No identification is required unless it wasn't presented when the voter registered. If not, he or she must have either a current N.C. driver's license, current valid photo identification showing name and address or a current passport, utility bill, bank statement or government paycheck.

Q. | If someone has a disability, what can he or she expect at a polling place in terms of accommodations and poll worker conduct?

S.C. | Horry and Georgetown counties offer "curbside voting." Voters should park in the available, marked spots, and the voter or a representative must ask a poll worker for help. Someone will come out to the car to help them. From the state manual: "Anyone who, because of disability or age 65 or older, cannot enter the polling place in which he/she is registered to vote, or is unable to stand in line to vote, may vote outside that polling place in the closest available parking area utilizing the vehicle in which he/she has been driven, or has driven to the polls," (Section 7-13-771) and the National Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act. If the polling place is busy, and a machine is not available to be brought to the car, a worker will bring a paper ballot. In both cases, the voter should be aware that they can ask for privacy from the poll worker. They will be asked a series of questions, in order to "qualify" for the assistance, from the manual: "Any voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice, other than the voter's employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the voter's union."

N.C. | Brunswick County has curbside voting, and a paper ballot will be brought to disabled people who cannot go into the polling place. Poll workers may assist voters to the extent requested.

Q. | If the machines have any kind of operational issue, what do people need to know about the process that will take place?

S.C. | If all of the machines in the polling place were to go down, then the voters would be given a paper emergency ballot to vote on.

In Horry and Georgetown counties, each precinct is issued these emergency paper ballots just in case of such a situation.

N.C. | Paper ballots will be available at each precinct for back-up.

Staff writer Steve Jones contributed to this report.