The Palmetto Voter Project
Civic Participation Strengthens Communities, as Turnouts Set Records
For most of the 20th century, South Carolina ranked 50th – dead last – among the states in the percentage of its voting age population that actually voted.
Since its inception the Palmetto Project has been in the forefront of statewide efforts to reverse these dismal statistics by increasing voter education and modernizing the ways we conduct our elections ever since we were first founded.
South Carolinians responded by turning out in increasing numbers at the polls, thanks to a number of public-private partnerships we’ve help organize. In fact, since 1992 the state has set a record for increased registration or turnout in every two years.
In 2001 the governor of South Carolina recognized our success and asked the Palmetto Project to lead a top-to-bottom review of the voting systems in all 46 counties. Then, in 2002, our Executive Director was named as a co-chair of a $48 million effort to modernize those systems.
Today the innovations we’ve help put in place are continuing to transform our state’s elections into the most user-friendly and accurate in the country.
Next time when you are handed your “I Voted” sticker, you can take pride in knowing that it represents one more instance in which South Carolinians are getting an A-plus where we once got an F.
When you see the state’s new election slogan – “Every Vote Counts, Every Vote Matters” – you can thank Lee Bussell, our Board Chairman. His firm not only created it but successfully managed the statewide public education campaign implementing our new voting system in every county.
- In 2008, statewide voter turnout of 58% of our eligible citizens set a record for the largest in history. It was only the second general election in history in which a majority of South Carolinians 18 and older voted.
- Since 1992, South Carolina has set a record every two years either for increased voter registration or turnout.
