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Around noon, 191 people had voted at Caughman Road Elementary in Richland County. That's a strikingly large number considering only 236 voted at that traditionally Democratic precinct in the 2008 Republican presidential primary.
At Dent Middle School, another traditionally Democratic precinct, 31 people had voted around noon, compared to 37 in the entire day in 2008. Nearby Polo Road precint had 400 voters by 10:30 a.m., compared to 489 in 2008.
At many other precincts, the turnout has been similar to 2008 hours before polls close.
By 11:30 a.m., vote totals were at 300 at Saxe Gotha Presbyterian in Lexington County and 169 at Cooper, 136 at Trenholm Road, 94 at Keenan and 74 at Shandon Fire Department in Richland County. All of those are about half of the totals for the 2008 Republican primary turnout.
Lexington County’s Saluda River Baptist, with 265 votes by around noon, is one of the Republican stronghold with heavier turnout than 2008, when 385 voted the entire day.