As the first ballots were cast at 7 a.m. this morning, Horry County officials reported no problems with voting machines in the South Carolina Democrat Primary.

 

By 8:30 a.m. officials at several polling sites around Conway and Myrtle Beach also reported no problems.

"Everything is going wonderful," said Sandy Martin, Horry County's registration and elections director. "It's definitely going better this week."

Poll workers at several area sites also reported good turnout among voters.

"We've already got more people now than we had by 10 o'clock last Saturday," said JoAnn Stewart, a poll worker at the Homewood precinct. "It's going perfect."

And that looks good for Obama, the predicted favorite:

Today, it’s the Democrats turn in South Carolina. Rain is expected, but the weather should be less of an issue than it was last week for the GOP Primary.

 

Rasmussen Markets data suggest that Barack Obama is a heavy favorite. For the past several days, the closing prices have shown the Illinois Senator with a roughly 90% chance of winning today’s vote. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll in the state, conducted Monday night, showed Obama leading Clinton 43% to 28%. Obama has been leading by twelve or more points in four of the last five Rasmussen Reports polls.

John Edwards, born in the state, was a distant third in that poll.

All recent South Carolina polls show Obama leading, but the projected margin varies.

All polls in the state also show a huge divide along racial lines. The latest Rasmussen Reports polling showed Obama leading Clinton 68% to 16% among African-Americans in the Palmetto State. Clinton leads Obama 40% to 21% among white voters with Edwards earning 27% of the white vote. This is similar to the national dynamics as support for Clinton and Obama breaks down along gender and racial lines.

Roughly half the voters in South Carolina are expected to be African-American.

Stay tuned to Veracifier throughout the day for updates from our news crew, on-the-ground blogging from the Palmetto State Progressive, and Ground Hounds videos from our partner, The UpTake.