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North Carolina early voting begins Feb. 13

LANDRUM—The 2020 election season is officially upon us. 

Early absentee voting began on Thursday in South Carolina and will begin on Feb. 13 in North Carolina. 

In person, absentee voting for the Feb. 29 presidential preference primary in South Carolina has begun and will continue until Jan. 30. The voting location is the Office of Voter Registration & Elections, Conference Room 6, located at 366 N. Church St., Spartanburg, S.C. for Spartanburg County voters who will not be able to vote on primary day. 

Voting is available from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Voters in South Carolina also have the option if they are not available to vote on primary day to receive a ballot by mail. Requirements must be met in order to vote early in South Carolina. People can visit www.scvotes.org to learn more about absentee voting in South Carolina. 

In North Carolina, early voting begins Feb. 13 and is available to any registered voter. 

Early voting in North Carolina will be open from Feb. 13 until Feb. 29, with the primary election day being on March 3. 

Early voting can be done at the Polk County Board of Elections Office, located on the second floor of the Womack building in Columbus from 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. -3 p.m. on Saturdays during early voting. 

Sample ballots for each party can be found on the board of elections website, at polknc.org. 

Registered voters will vote for the March 3 primary in their registered party and if registered unaffiliated, may choose which party ticket to cast. 

Voters will be picking candidates for the November election for each party, including federal and state races. There will be no local selections for this year’s primary for Polk County voters, as not enough candidates filed for Polk County Commissioner or the Register of Deeds. 

There are three open seats for the county board of commissioners. The seats of Ray Gasperson (D), Myron Yoder (R) and Jake Johnson (R) are up for re-election. Johnson resigned last summer after being appointed as a state representative following the resignation of Cody Henson. The county appointed David Moore (R) to fill Johnson’s seat. 

Gasperson, Moore and Yoder filed as well as newcomer Andre Overholt (R) for the three commissioner seats. 

The Polk County Register of Deeds is also up for re-election, currently held by Sheila Whitmire (R), who has filed for re-election and is running unopposed. 

There will also be open Polk County School Board seats open this year, as well as Polk County Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor seats. 

Seats on the school board open next year include Saluda, Tryon, White Oak and Columbus. Newcomer Sara Bell has filed for the Saluda seat currently held by Rhonda Corley, who did not file for re-election this year; incumbent Rick Covil filed for the Tryon seat; incumbent Cindy Allen filed for the White Oak seat and Danielle Gibbs filed for the Columbus seat along with Robbie Price. Gibbs was appointed to fill the open seat earlier this year by then chairman Geoff Tennant, who passed away over the summer. There are no primaries held for school board seats, which are unaffiliated. 

During the primary in March, Polk County voters will be selecting a presidential candidate for each party along with several federal and state seats. 

The general election will be held on Nov. 3, 2020.