By Al Dozier
Five early voting sites will be open to Lexington County residents before the November elections.
The sites will be open Oct. 24 through Nov. 6, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to Lenice Shoemaker, Director of Registration and Elections for Lexington County. She reported the schedule to the Lexington County Council at the Sept. 6 meeting.
The following locations will be available: County Voter Registration and Elections Office, 605 West Main Street, Room 130, Lexington; Midlands Technical College (Batesburg-Leesville Campus), 423 College Street, Lexington; Midlands Technical College (Harbison Campus),7300 College Street, Irmo; Pelion Community Center: 951 Pine Street, Pelion; West Columbia Community Center, 754 B. Avenue, West Columbia.
Shoemaker said the State Elections Commission will provide the county with “some reimbursements” for the cost of the early voting.
During the primary elections earlier this year, Lexington County was eligible to receive state funding for up to six early voting locations, but used only one.
Shoemaker said early voting was implemented so quickly for the primaries, her small staff wanted to “make sure we learned how to be in compliance” and didn’t attempt to set up a lot of locations.
She expects the early voting will work well in the future.
“We believe early voting will be a ‘HIT’ and people will take advantage of the different locations they can vote,” she said.