HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A 103-year-old Horry County voted early last week, but her cousin, who took her to the polls, says two workers almost didn’t let her vote.
At about 4:45 p.m. last Wednesday, more than an hour before the polls closed, Cassandra Linnen says a curbside poll worker told her he couldn’t let any more voters through. That meant her 103-year-old cousin, Ethel Thomas, couldn’t vote. But she claims he didn’t tell her why.
“I just feel like, he had about four or five cars, maybe, ahead, and he probably thought that it was going to take a while and maybe he wanted to get finished early,” Linnen said.
According to a spokesperson at the Horry County Elections Office, who couldn’t confirm or deny that happened, poll workers cannot turn away early voters before 6 p.m. They also cannot close their polling places early unless there’s an emergency.
Poll workers also must tell voters in line why they’re closing early and where they’re relocating so they can still vote. Linnen spoke with a second poll worker, who told her that Thomas could vote in the standing line, but Thomas has a walker and can’t stand for too long.