Spartanburg Co. adds new precincts: What you need to know

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A lot of precincts are changing in Spartanburg County.

Officials with voter registration said around 45,000 registration cards have gone out this week to people whose precincts are changing. Larger precincts have been broken up and smaller ones condensed together.

“Growth is a challenge in Spartanburg County. We’ve been growing rapidly. We knew we needed do something about that growth and the precincts,” said John Baucom.

Through the new Precinct Improvement Plan, that went into effect July 1, Spartanburg County has been able to plan ahead for the 2024 Presidential election.

“What we wanted to do was split the big precincts into two smaller precincts to allow room for growth again,” said Baucom. “Then, consolidate a few small precincts that were close together and not growing rapidly.

14 precincts were split up and 9 consolidated, adding 5 new polling locations in total.

“It’s all about efficiency with our poll managers and our equipment on election day,” said Baucom.

John Baucom, Director of Registration and Elections for the county, said most precincts were split up from Boiling Springs through Landrum and Duncan.

“Now all of those precincts have less than 3,000 voters, which brings them in line with most of the other precincts in the county,” he said.

With more polling locations, the county is going to need more workers.

“Typically, it would mean that we lose a few voters out of our precinct and hopefully, it gets to be a little easier for us. The difficulty for us comes with finding workers to handle those extra precincts,” said Anne Ring, who has been a poll worker since the 80’s.

If they don’t get enough workers, Ring said the volunteers will have even more work to do.

“Stress, yes, stress, definitely stress, because we don’t have enough people to actually show up to just be the warm bodies that we need, to make sure that people are in the correct line and in the correct precinct,” she said.

She has seen the growth of the county first-hand over the years.

“There are more people voting, more people becoming interested in voting particularly in the larger elections,” stated Ring.

These new locations will help cut back on lines and make sure you cast your ballot in time.

The registration deadline is October 8^th at 11:59 p.m. if you are doing it online and October 6^th at 5:00 p.m. if you go in person.

Baucom said people need to make sure their addresses are updated.

With this upcoming election in November, he said the big drive will be the Penny Sales Tax on the ballot.

For more on your precinct, how to register or become a volunteer, click here.