Beaufort Co. election officials ready for Election Day after over 46,000 voted early; talk way to get results faster

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WTOC) - Many voters in Beaufort County know it often takes a few extra hours to finalize election results on election night. This time around, election officials are taking to the skies to speed up the process.Beaufort County voters have 81 polling locations open across the county on Tuesday; only five of them will be closed.One of those is on Daufuskie Island, which has a little over 500 voters and is traditionally the last precinct to return its numbers.For as long as election officials can remember, the only way to transport voting machines and memory cards to and from the bridgeless island has been by boat. While the machine was ferried over by boat as usual on Monday with help from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, it will make its return trip through the air, weather permitting.The county plans to use a helicopter from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit to fly the results back from Daufuskie Island on Tuesday night, accompanied by poll w