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Column: Thankful our citizens have the right to vote

Nov. 12—Last week we had to make important decisions.

No, I'm not talking about choosing Christmas over Thanksgiving. Although I know several people who went straight into Dec. 25 mode right after Halloween. (I was not one of them.)

Our country went to the polls for the midterm elections, and in many states it was easier than ever with no excuse early voting. In South Carolina, more than half a million folks cast their ballots early.

I did not vote early, so I headed to my polling place around mid-morning Tuesday. I had already received information that my voting place — H. Odell Weeks Activities Center — had experienced some problems.

I went and there was a small line, but I only had to wait about 15 minutes. There weren't a lot of choices to make on the local races, since most of those were decided in the primaries earlier in the year. I did my civic duty, collected my "I Voted" sticker and thanked the poll volunteers as I left.

More than 55,000 voters cast ballots in Aiken County, which is a turnout of nearly 48%. The election results were certified Friday morning.

Yes, we had some problems. Equipment failure caused a delay at Odell Weeks. The doors were locked at North Augusta High School when volunteers and voters arrived, so poll workers improvised and set up machines outside. There was one report of a voter intimidation incident at a polling location between Aiken and Ridge Spring.

Overall, though, it was pretty smooth sailing.

From a newspaper standpoint, election nights are pretty predictable. By that, I mean we sit around and wait on results. A lot.

After getting our fill of pizza — it's a time-honored tradition for journalists to indulge in that food group on election night — our crew headed over to the Aiken County Government Center. That's where the votes are tallied and it's the location where candidates gather.

You can also keep track of the results on scvotes.gov, and that's what I did back at the office. The results trickled in slowly, and around 11 p.m. 91% of Aiken County precincts had reported. So we updated our stories and put the paper to bed.

It wasn't until around 12:30 a.m. that all precincts had been counted and posted. We updated our stories for the online version; nothing significant had changed with those last few polling places.

We are still waiting on some of the results around the country. The Republicans appear to be poised to gain control of the House of Representatives, but U.S. Senate races in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada will decide if the Democrats retain control. It could come down to our neighbors across the Savannah River; a runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker is set for Dec. 6.

I remember one time I complained at a civic club luncheon about a small election and how much it was costing the taxpayers. One of the club members, much more experienced and wiser than me, retorted that at least in our country we get to have elections.

Of course, he was spot on.

On Thursday, at my Kiwanis Club meeting, another friend talked about how precious our right to vote is. He pointed out that the good people of Ukraine are fighting for that very right. Sadly, thousands have been killed in their war with Russia.

I wrote this column on Veterans Day, which was a sobering reminder of the sacrifices so many have made to protect our freedoms. I'm thankful to all who served, and I'm thankful we have the right to vote.

Thanks for reading.