FOCUS: Primary voting opens 7 a.m. Tuesday

Staff reports  |  Voters who haven’t already cast absentee ballots to avoid the coronavirus and potentially long lines will head to the polls Tuesday for the state Democratic and Republican primaries. 

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close 12 hours later.  While it’s not clear how busy polls will be, poll managers have received public health training for the pandemic to protect people’s health, according to the state election commission.  Social distancing policies will be in place and managers are expected to clean common surfaces.  Other new public health measures to be observed at the polls:

• Polling managers will wear masks, face shields and gloves.
• Check-in stations will have sneeze guards.
• Polling places will have hand sanitizer for voters and poll managers.
• Voters will get cotton swabs to make touchscreen selections.

Voters are advised to bring photo identification.  Several voting locations also have changed in recent days in Charleston County. Click here to see the list.

“Be patient and understanding with poll managers on election day,” a state election news release said.  “They are being asked to do a lot to facilitate voting under the current conditions.  We are all in this together.”  Read more about the election here.

• To learn more about the candidates, read their answers to six questions posed recently by the Charleston City Paper.

List of City Paper endorsements

Here is a list of endorsements offered last week by our sister publication, the Charleston City Paper, for you to consider.  Read the endorsement editorial here.

Democratic primary

• S.C. Senate, District 41:  Sam Skardon
• S.C. Senate, District 44: Debbie Chatman Bryant
• S.C. House, District 99: Jen Gibson
• S.C. House, District 109:  Dion Tedder
• S.C. House, District 111:  Wendell Gilliard
• S.C. House, District 112:  David Quick
• S.C. House, District 113:  Marvin Pendarvis
• S.C. House, District 115:  Spencer Wetmore
• S.C. House, District 116:  Millicent Middleton
• Charleston County Council, District 3:  Rob Wehrman
• Charleston County Council, District 6: Kylon Middleton
• Charleston County Coroner: Frank Broccolo

Republican primary

• U.S. Senate: LIndsey Graham
• U.S. Congress, 1st District:  Kathy Landing
• S.C. Senate, District 44: Gayla McSwain
• S.C. House, District 94: Gil Gatch
• S.C. House, District 99:  Chris Staubes
• S.C. House, District 110:  William Cogswell
• S.C. House, District 112: Ryan Buckhannon
• S.C. House, District 115: Kathleen Wilson
• S.C. House, District 117: Bill Crosby