Democrats turn out in high numbers to vote in South Carolina primary
Like Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, South Carolina is seeing record turnout from Democrats participating in the presidential nominating process:
Democrats are feeling excited about the openness of the contest, the diversity of the three contenders, and the growing strength of the party.
Party officials predicted a record-setting turnout. Throughout the state, party officials said they had early reports of high turnout, in predominantly white and black precincts. Several precincts in York County, on the state’s northern edge, had surpassed their complete voting totals from four years ago by early afternoon. Officials said similar turnout patterns were coming in from Aiken County, on the Georgia border.The energy and enthusiasm for the presidential race is very likely to be extremely high going into Super Tuesday.
Four years ago, about 290,000 people voted in the presidential primary here, but officials are predicting that as many as 350,000 voters could participate this time. With 45 delegates to the Democratic National Convention at stake, which will be divided among the candidates, South Carolina offers the most diverse contest to date in the party’s nominating season.
Democrats are feeling excited about the openness of the contest, the diversity of the three contenders, and the growing strength of the party.
# Posted by Andrew : 4:34 PM
Comments:
Turnout was huge!
In 2004, 292,383 votes were cast in the South Carolina Democratic primary. Barack Obama's total alone has surpassed that, and we're looking at 532,227 votes cast with 99% of precincts reporting, or over 82% more than the previous record high.
To underscore just how huge those numbers are in comparison to 2004, even Clinton received more votes than the last winner (which happened to be John Edwards), by 10,000 votes!
Turnout for this Democratic nomination has been breaking records at every stop. Turnout for the Republicans has been down as compared to the last contested primary race in 2000. If the trend continues it bodes very well come November. That's a big if, but clearly voters are vastly more energized by the Democratic race than the Republican one.
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