Voters Rise Early for Primary Day Voting

At 7 a.m. Saturday morning, polling locations across South Carolina opened for voting in the  First-in-the-South Primary.

Patch visited four locations as of 10 a.m. and poll managers said hundreds of local residents had come to vote despite moments of rain.

Only two machines at Leaphart Elementary were reported as not functioning properly.

Other than that, poll managers said, the voter turnout has been slow and steady.

Patch talked to some voters at Leaphart Elementary School, Irmo High School, Seven Oaks Park and CrossRoads Middle School to see how their voting experience was going and which candidate they wanted to win the presidential nomination.

Army veteran Eddie Bates, 57, said he voted for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney because of his family values, and his ability to beat President Barack Obama and lead the country forward.

“It was a choice between him and Newt Gingrich,” Bates said. “Whether the stories are true or not, whether he wanted an opened marriage or not, to me it’s not important.” 

“To me, what’s important is that he was unfaithful to his wife. If you’re going to be unfaithful to your wife, you’re probably going to be unfaithful to me, too.”

"I’m a Christian but I don’t believe in what the Mormons believe but I know that they have good family values even though I don’t believe what they believe."

Bates, a Columbia Republican, said the best thing Obama did was authorized the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the worst thing he did was create his health bill.

“I lost my insurance over that,” Bates said. “When that went into effect, the very next day our insurance went up from $800 a month to about $1,300 a month.”

Bates said he now visits the Wm. Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center.

Bates is looking for a change in the health insurance industry.

Gregory and Brenda Monk, both of Columbia, said they voted for former House speaker Newt Gingrich but would’ve voted for Texas Gov. Rick Perry if he was still in the race.

“He’s a man of God,” Gregory Monk, 61, said of Perry. “He’s got the experience. He had everything I was looking for in a candidate.”

“Since he’s not running, I voted for Newt because I think he gives us the best chance to defeat Barack Obama. I think he will take him to task in the debates. He’s got the experience, the knowledge, the international experience that Romney doesn’t have.”

Gregory Monk said he was “real conflicted” until Saturday morning and was on the fence between Romney and Gingrich.

“I like Newt because of his experience,” Gregory Monk said. “I like Romney because he’s steady. He’s got the economical experience.”

Gregory said he couldn’t vote for Romney after watching the last debate in Charleston.

“After that stunt he made in the debate about his tax returns, that bothered me,” he said. “What if he does that in one of the debates?”

For Brenda Monk, 64, she said Gingrich was the one who had a lot of answers to the country’s problems.

“Newt is very intelligent,” Brenda Monk said. “I think he’s the person to get the economy back on track.”

When asked if Gingrich’s ex-wife’s comments would have an impact on people voting for him, Gregory Monk said no.

“That was 20 years ago,” Gregory Monk said. "It didn’t sway my decision one bit.”

“If he did that, that was wrong but like (Perry) said who among us has not made mistakes?”

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