York County early voting is moving at a fast pace as people make their picks in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary.

About 2,300 people voted after early voting started Monday through Wednesday at York County’s four early voting sites, according to York County elections officials.

Alan Helms, York County elections director, called interest from voters high with several days still to go until primary day on Feb. 24. Then, voters across South Carolina will make their pick between former remaining candidates President Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, former U.N. ambassador and S.C. governor.

Local elections are not on the ballot this month. Candidate filing for local and state elections is from March 16 to April 1, according to the York County elections office. Any primaries for local or statewide elections would be in June. The November general election will include the national presidential race, and state and local races.

Helms said the York County Voter Registration and Elections Office has received a number of questions about the upcoming election, including who is eligible to vote early in the primary.

“Every person in our office is asked that question several times a day about who can vote,” Helms said.

Who can vote Feb. 24?

Voters in South Carolina do not register to vote by party. Any registered voter who did not vote in the Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 3 can vote in the Republican presidential primary through Feb. 24, Helms said.

There is sometimes confusion among voters, especially new voters or transplants, because voters in other states, including neighboring North Carolina, register to vote by political party or as unaffiliated.

What’s on the ballot?

Besides Trump and Haley, the ballot contains the names of Republicans Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramasway and Chris Christie — all of whom withdrew from the race. The ballot also has Ryan Binkley and David Stuckenberg.

Signs will be posted at voting locations explaining who has dropped out.

The ballot also contains three advisory questions for voters that are not binding.

The ballot questions are:

▪ Should South Carolina law be changed to give people the right to register to vote with the political party of their choice?

▪ Should South Carolina adopt reforms to increase the independence and accountability of our judiciary by improving transparency and reducing conflicts of interest in the process of reviewing judicial qualifications and electing judges?

▪ Should it be an immediate legislative priority to protect South Carolina’s competitiveness and small businesses by changing state law so that a person’s responsibility for financial damages in a lawsuit is based on that person’s actual share of responsibility?

How to vote early

Voters can go to any early voting location in their county of residence to vote early, Helms said.

Early voting started Monday and runs through Saturday. It resumes Tuesday and continues through Feb. 22. There is no early voting Sunday because South Carolina law does not allow it, Helms said. There is no early voting Monday because it is the Presidents Day holiday.

York County has four early voting sites open 8:30 a.m to 6 p.m. on early voting days.

▪ York – York County Government Center, 6 S. Congress St.

▪ Rock Hill – Baxter Hood Center at York Technical College, 375 S. Anderson Road.

▪ Clover – First United Methodist Church, 124 Bethel St.

▪ Fort Mill – Carolinas Cornerstone Church, 1790 Gardendale Road.

▪ Lancaster County and Chester County each have one early voting site.

▪ Lancaster – Lancaster County Voter Registration and Elections, 101 N. Main St.

▪ Chester – Chester County Board of Voter Registration and Elections, 109 Ella St.

Republican numbers higher than Democrats

Republican early voting numbers are far higher than Democrats had earlier this month, Helms said. Incumbent Democrat Joe Biden won that race easily with almost no opposition. Republicans, however, have a contested race that has dominated national media coverage.

“The number of voters already shows interest is high,” Helms said.

The early voting site in Fort Mill near Tega Cay has seen the most of the approximately 2,300 people who voted early so far, Helms said. That Fort Mill site has had around 840 voters as of late Wednesday. The York location had around 615, the Rock Hill site had over 510 and the Clover site had around 310, Helms said.

State Republican officials told The State newspaper as many as 1 million of South Carolina’s 3.1 million registered voters could cast ballots by primary day on Feb. 24.

Larry Barnett, York County Republican Party chairman, said he is not surprised voters are already streaming to the polls. York County is a conservative area, Barnett said. The northern part of York County that includes Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Lake Wylie, and the Indian Land area of Lancaster County, also are the fastest growing areas in South Carolina. All those areas have traditionally had huge Republican voter turnout.

“Republicans are interested and care about this presidential election,” Barnett said.

And those Republicans appear to be most interested in voting for Trump, whose polling lead has been solid and around the same margin for weeks.

A Winthrop University Poll released Wednesday showed former president Trump leading former S.C. Gov. Haley 65% to 29% among likely GOP primary voters, The State reported. A CBS News poll from Monday has Trump up by 35 points with a 65% to 30% lead.

Need more information?

Any South Carolina voter can go to scvotes.gov, the South Carolina elections and voter website. Registered voters can log in to see their polling place and get other information.