The four early Republican nominating contests will soon conclude with the South Carolina primary, following the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries last month and the Nevada caucuses and caucuses this month.
Here’s what you should know.
When is the South Carolina Republican primary?
Saturday, February 24th.
Who can participate?
There is no formal party registration in South Carolina, so registered voters can vote in the primary regardless of whether they identify as Republicans, Democrats or Independents.
However, if you voted in the Democratic primary this month, you cannot also vote in the Republican primary.
How can I vote?
Polling stations are open on election day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (You can find your polling location here.) You can also vote early now through February 22nd – except February 18th-19th – but your early voting location may be different than your Election Day voting site, check So be sure to check here.
In any case, you must present photo ID.
Some South Carolinians can cast their absentee ballots by mail. You can find out whether you are eligible here.
Unfortunately, if you are not yet registered to vote, it is too late to do so for this primary. The deadline was last month. However, here is the information you need to register in time for the non-presidential primaries in June – which include congressional, state legislative and local races – and the general election in November.
Who will be on the ballot?
Seven candidates are listed:
The two main candidates, former President Donald J. Trump and Nikki Haley
Two little-known candidates, Ryan Binkley and David Stuckenberg
Three former candidates — Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy — who suspended their campaigns after the vote.
The vote will also include three questions on policy issues, but these results are not binding; They are intended for the state Republican Party to gauge voter sentiment.
What are we looking for in South Carolina?
South Carolina could be Ms. Haley’s final campaign location.
It is her home state, and voters there elected her governor twice. So it appears to be an opportunity for her to compete closely with Mr Trump – but polls show she is far behind. She said she doesn’t think she needs to win South Carolina to remain viable, but rather that she needs to do better than New Hampshire (43 percent), which in turn was better than Iowa (19 percent). .
If she tops the polls, that momentum could carry her into the 16 Super Tuesday races, where she would need to collect many delegates to be competitive. (We track delegate counts here.) If she doesn’t, her path looks pretty bleak.
What happens next?
After South Carolina, we move on to Michigan, where both parties’ primaries will be held on February 27th because the Democrats moved the state up in their nomination process.
However, because the Republican National Committee did not approve this change, it will appoint only a fraction of Michigan’s delegates to the party’s national convention based on these primary results. The state’s remaining delegates will be chosen later at caucuses conducted by party insiders.
After February 27th, weeks of state-by-state campaigning will end as the race moves to Super Tuesday on March 5th.
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2024-02-19 10:05:03
www.nytimes.com