Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s office is promising shorter lines and fewer problems on the second day of advance voting across the state.

Congressman John Barrow and Republican Challenger John Stone debate Tuesday at Julian Smith Casino.

What’s expected to be a record voter turnout is likely to be slowed even more in South Carolina by three constitutional amendment questions on the ballot. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle has more.

Outlying counties in South Carolina are seeing record turnout for absentee voting. Hundreds are squeezing in time to vote early…and election offices are squeezing people into tiny offices to keep up. Joy Howe has the Palmetto State’s Vote ’08 coverage. 

Advance voting has begun in Richmond and Columbia Counties. Monday, October 27th, marked the beginning of advance voting, and will run through Friday, October 31st. We have a list of locations for you to cast your advance vote.

It is full speed ahead for both parties. The political headquarters in our area are working some over time, getting people ready for the big day. But if you haven’t gotten your yard sign or stickers yet you may want to hurry. WJBF News Channel 6’s Barclay Bishop has more.

The excitement over the presidential election could mean a record-high voter turnout in South Carolina, and the State Election Commission says counties are ready to handle more voters. State law requires counties to have one voting machine for every 250 registered voters. WJBF News Channel 6’s Robert Kittle has more.

The nonpartisan group Election Protection said they hope to have 600 volunteer monitors at polling place in metro Atlanta and Macon alert for voting problems.

The battle over Georgia water was the focus of a debate between Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and Democrat, Jim Martin. The debate aired Tuesday night on WXFG Fox 54. Chambliss asked Martin how he could support Barack Obama…when Obama has sided with Florida in the water war with Georgia.

State lawmakers are still working on a plan to cut the state budget by more than $500 million, but one state agency has already taken steps in hopes of avoiding laying off employees. Department of Consumer Affairs employees agreed unanimously at a staff meeting Thursday to take a ten percent pay cut to save money.

Legislators will be back at their desks in Columbia to deal with plans to cut $488 million from the state’s $7 billion budget.

The third-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House is campaigning for Barack Obama in Mississippi. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the House majority whip, was set to speak at a rally Sunday at the Obama state headquarters near downtown Jackson.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin of Georgia is distancing himself from a Democratic campaign ad party officials in Washington are running on his behalf in Georgia. The ad says Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss supports tax hike.  In a debate Saturday sponsored by at Atlanta TV station, Martin said the ad is factually correct but he wishes it wasn’t running.

In Aiken County,415 people voted Monday, the plan was for voters to go to the Old Kalmia Mall on Highway 1 to vote. But last week, elections officials said only the Board of Elections headquarters would be open for voting. WJBF News Channel 6’s Paige Tucker explains.

South Carolina’s economic advisers say tax collections for the current year will be an additional $415 million short of what’s needed. The state Board of Economic Advisors said Wednesday that state revenues will be a total of 8 percent short of the projections that legislators used to write the state budget that started July 1.

Black people in South Carolina registered to vote at nearly twice the rate of whites ahead of last weekend’s deadline. An Associated Press analysis of voting records shows that registration among black voters rose 15 percent from the start of the year through Oct. 1. White registrations were up 8 percent over that time.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says legislators shouldn’t be paid when they return to Columbia to patch the state’s budget. Sanford said Wednesday he’s been telling legislators for five years that the state’s budget would be wrecked in the next economic downturn.

South Carolina has already had to make an across-the-board budget cut because of falling state tax revenues. Now, the state Board of Economic Advisors is poised to make another cut in its estimate of state tax revenues. The cut is expected to be as much as $250 million. So, Gov. Mark Sanford called together state agency heads to talk about ways to save taxpayers money.

South Carolina voters have a clear choice when they go to the polls next month to elect a U.S. senator. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is running for reelection to the seat he won for the first time in 2002, after Strom Thurmond’s retirement. He’s being challenged by Democrat Bob Conley, a pilot and engineer. When it comes to the issues that South Carolina voters say are the most important to them, the two men are on opposite sides.

Today’s economy, and the war in Iraq, are making voters really think about who we send to Washington. Besides the President, South Carolina voters will have a Senate election. WJBF-TV News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, took the issues of Vote ‘08 to the candidates to hear what they had to say.

State officials in both Georgia and South Carolina are concerned the downturn in the economy will force them to slash spending. WJBF-TV News Channel 6’s Columbia reporter, Robert Kittle, shows what those cuts could mean for South Carolina residents.

South Carolina Democrats are knocking on doors around the state this weekend. The party set up 17 gathering spots around the state for an election turnout drive for the party’s candidates on Saturday.
 

There is a great deal of concern about the big national economic bailout. In fact, one of your U.S. Senators, Lindsey Graham, says its a choice between two options…one bad…the other…catastrophic. WJBF-TV News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, tells us how the plan could affect you.

Changes in state law allow Georgia voters to begin casting ballots for President Monday.  That gives registered voters more than six weeks to use touch-screen machines at their local election offices or use mail-in absentee ballots instead of waiting until a week before the Nov. 4 presidential election.