A lack of poll workers led to delays of over an hour at an Aiken County precinct during the Feb. 24 Republican presidential primary.
There were delays at Aiken Technical College, Michael Bond, deputy director of the Aiken County election office, confirmed Thursday.
Aiken Technical College, normally the site of Midland Valley 71, was also the location of voting in Bath 7, Gloverville 15, Langley 18, Lynwood 19, Midland Valley 51, Ascauga Lake 63 and Ascauga Lake 84 for the primary.
South Carolina county election officials use a formula based on turnout in prior elections and projected turnout in the current election to determine how many poll workers and how much equipment to have at each precinct – Aiken County has 86 precincts – in the county.
There's some leeway within the formula, Bond said Thursday. And Aiken County normally uses the leeway to overestimate the turnout so that there's more than enough poll workers and equipment at each precinct when voters arrive, Bond said.
But some of the poll workers that were assigned to Aiken Technical College didn't show up on Election Day, Bond added.
To make things worse, the poll clerk (the person in charge of the combined precinct) didn't report a shortage of people when he was contacted Saturday morning, Bond said.
There weren't enough poll workers to check in voters efficiently, Mel Minitor said Thursday.
Minitor, who said he normally votes in Lynwood (Burnettown Municipal Building), said he waited in line for over an hour – he estimated between an hour and 10 minutes and an hour and 15 minutes – to cast his ballot.
Specifically, there were only two women checking in voters at Aiken Technical College and each of the 1,903 people who voted had to be checked in to cast their ballots.
There were people in line when he left that had been waiting longer, Minitor continued.
Bond added the election office eventually reassigned poll workers from other precincts to reduce the delay at Aiken Technical College.
