Registration, Elections asks for absentee voting in library
If all goes according to plan, North Augustans wishing to vote absentee for the general election won't have to go too far from home to do so this year.
Aiken County Registration and Elections Executive Director Stuart Bedenbaugh said a request has been submitted to the U.S. Justice Department to allow absentee voting at Nancy Carson Library on Oct. 17, 20, 23 and 27.
"If approved - and I have no reason to think it won't be - there will be four half-days in October for walk-in absentee voting," said Bedenbaugh, who said voting on the designated days will be from noon to 4 p.m. (The line will be cut off at 4 p.m. and all in the line will get to vote.)
And while voting absentee is a plus for many people, Bedenbaugh did say voters need to realize that there may be lines at Nancy Carson Library. "People need to realize the process for voting absentee requires more details," he said, listing a form each voter much fill out saying why he or she is voting absentee.
The voting will be open to any registered voter in Aiken County who qualifies for absentee voting. That's 87,000 voters versus 1,000 to 1,500 in an average precinct. Bedenbaugh explained there are 17 acceptable reasons for voting absentee.
According to Bedenbaugh, this is really the first time Aiken County has had the technological capability to offer absentee voting anywhere but at the Registration and Elections Office.
"In the old days we would have needed 70 different punch cards (for the various precincts and precinct splits)," said the director. "Now we just need a laptop and a voting machine."
He did say this year funding had been provided that gives his office the needed manpower to make on-site absentee voting possible.
The same opportunity will be afforded folks in Wagener for one afternoon.
And anyone wanting to vote absentee may do so Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning around Oct. 13. Another change this year is that absentee voting will not be at the Registration and Elections Office in Aiken but at Kalmia Hill on Richland Avenue - for the general election only.
"Last time in our office, the lines went way out the door," said Bedenbaugh, who admitted the change was out of concern for what happens if the weather is bad. "We can't cram 70 people into a space for 25," Bedenbaugh said.
Referring to the plans for the absentee voting, Bedenbaugh concluded, "I hope folks will benefit from it."
