MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Primary elections are expected to look a lot different this year as new safety measures are required amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Voters will be given cotton swabs to press the buttons at voting booths, to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other bacteria usually found on voting machines.

Voting lines are expected to be marked with tape or strings keeping voters six feet apart. Supplies like masks, gloves, surface cleaner, and hand sanitizer were distributed for precinct clerks to use.

Sandy Martin, director of Horry County Voters Registration and Elections said these requirements may delay the voting process.

“With all that’s having to go on at the precincts it may take a little longer to get in and out this time,” Martin explained.

“We do ask that the voters be patient. We’re trying to take all precautions, so just be patient with the workers,” she said.

Precinct clerks will be behind transparent shields, wearing masks and gloves. Voters are not required to wear masks or gloves, but Martin highly recommends doing so if a voter has an underlying health condition.

Many were seen voting early at the Horry County Voters Registration office, possibly to avoid long lines at the polls.

Over 6,000 absentee ballots were mailed in for Horry County, which is the most the board of elections has seen in a primary election in quite some time.

Martin and other board members filed through boxes of absentee ballots the day before primary elections, separating envelopes from the ballots to make things somewhat easier for processing.

“Typically we can’t start doing any of that until [today] at 9am, but since we’ve got so many this has given us a head start,” Martin explained.

Martin told News13 how much of a challenge this year has been because of the pandemic.

“We’ve had a lot of trouble getting poll workers to work this time,” she said. “We had polling locations that didn’t want us to use them because of the pandemic. So, it’s been a very different process.”

Martin said she believes that due to the large amount of absentee ballots, voting crowds will be smaller than normal.

Count of News13, your local election headquarters, for updates.

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