South Carolina Republicans vote today in a special primary to begin filling the US Senate seat of Lindsey Graham, which became vacant with what the fetched report calls "the sudden death of longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 12" [1]. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and anyone in line by 7 p.m. may vote [1]. Early voting ran Aug. 5 to 7 and banked 61,775 ballots before the first precinct opened this morning [1].
The ballot carries ten names: Duke Buckner, Danny Ford II, Rep. Russell Fry, Sen. Darline Graham, Mark Lynch, Mark McBride, Rep. Ralph Norman, Glenda Gail Parker, Mark Sanford and Sam Shepherd [1]. Sanford served two stints as a congressman and two terms as South Carolina's governor, background the wire report assumes rather than states. The field's own sorting is visible in the Aug. 3 debate roster, which drew five of the ten: Fry, Graham, Lynch, Norman and Sanford [1].
The mechanics reward reading before the results arrive. A runoff will be held on Aug. 25 "if necessary" [1], which under South Carolina's majority-runoff practice means if no candidate clears 50 percent tonight. Ten candidates, two sitting House members and a former governor make that threshold difficult for anyone to reach in a single round, so today's most likely product is not a nominee but a pairing. Eligibility follows June's primaries: voters who took part in the June Republican primary may vote, voters who took part in the June Democratic primary may not, and voters who skipped both are free to participate [1]. Photo identification is required at the polls [1].
The winner advances to face Dr. Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee, in the general election [1]. The fetched report does not give the general-election date, and this piece does not assert one.
South Carolina makes this a heavier primary day than Monday's previews suggested. This desk covered two of Tuesday's marquee contests yesterday, Minnesota's open Democratic Senate primary, reshaped by the administration's immigration crackdown, and Wisconsin's governor primary, where 171,689 early votes were cast into a field that changed after ballots were printed. A US Senate seat in South Carolina now joins that ledger, and it is the only one of Tuesday's contests that exists because of a death rather than a calendar.
What to watch tonight is narrow: whether anyone approaches a majority, which two names emerge if no one does, and turnout against the 61,775 early ballots already cast. The Aug. 25 runoff, if it comes, arrives in two weeks, and the seat it fills is one of one hundred.
