No Bumper Stickers, Just the Ballots, Please
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

OLUMBIA, S.C., Feb. 3 — It comes as no surprise, perhaps, that voting in the primary here on Tuesday was genteel and civilized, compared with the raucous atmosphere surrounding the contests in New Hampshire and Iowa. After all, this is a place where signs admonishing "Do Not Give Money to Panhandlers, Support Responsible Service Providers" are as numerous as palm trees along Main Street. South Carolina voters do not wear their politics on their sleeves.

So there was little sign waving or shouting downtown. "House for Sale" signs outnumbered campaign placards in the suburbs. Polling places, mostly neat brick schoolhouses, were marked with discreet yellow signs that said simply: "Vote here."

When one encountered the rare campaign staff member soliciting votes, it was often an out-of-stater or a paid street worker.

Patrick Donnelly, 20, held up a sign that read "Edwards for Education" opposite the South Carolina State House, getting a muted reception on Columbia's busiest thoroughfare. Occasionally, someone would gently honk a horn (once), even though Senator John Edwards is a favorite and a native son.

Mr. Donnelly is an Edwards supporter, but one imported from North Carolina. He had driven down the night before to help out with the primary, he said, adding, "They told us to grab a sign and gave us a corner to go to."

Likewise, outside the polling place at the Masonic Lodge on Gervais Street, two young workers for Gen. Wesley K. Clark suddenly appeared with buttons and campaign literature.

"Why Clark?" they were asked.

"Honestly?" one replied sheepishly. The other continued: "It's a job. We were hired to do this. I hadn't even heard of him until yesterday."

And who were these Clark workers voting for?

"John Edwards!" they agreed.

In gyms, schools and community centers across South Carolina, voters long accustomed to pushing buttons on machines were surprised to face simple paper ballots instead. With the memory of hanging chads fresh in the minds of Democratic Party officials, it was back to basics.

"We felt it was the most accurate way to measure the intent of the voter," said Nu Wexler, executive director of the State Democratic Party. "You don't have to worry about chads and that sort of stuff. Also, with one race, they are easy to count, and it makes it easy to train people. And it is less expensive than renting voting machines."

At the Rosewood Elementary School, Nancy Lipton seemed confused. "We're voting by hand?" she asked.

"Yep, this is the old Democratic Party," a poll worker said.

So each voter was handed a No. 2 pencil and a simple but elegant ballot that listed the candidates in alphabetical order, a box to check next to each name.

The voting booths were actually cardboard partitions, overturned boxes that sat atop folding tables. When the ballot was completed, the voter slipped it into a large sealed black plastic ballot box.

"When I saw those cardboard things on the news this morning, I thought, what on earth is that?" said Cathy Fleming, who works for Blue Cross and Blue Shield and who said she had voted for Mr. Edwards. Indeed, many voters, unaware of the ersatz voting booths, simply checked off the ballots at the registration table.

At the Bluff Road Community Center on the edge of Columbia, the Rev. James Jeffcoat and his wife, Bethelma, both "around 80," dressed up in their Sunday best to come out and vote, as they have since the 1960's here.

The surroundings were rural. Next door was a sign advertising a "Turkey Shoot." Still, the minister wore an elegant gray suit with a fedora. His wife, who uses a cane, wore heels and a floral dress with a long pleated skirt. "Voting is a very important responsibility, and we take it very seriously," Mrs. Jeffcoat said. "The country really has to get together now."

Her husband added that he encouraged both of his rural Baptist congregations to come out and vote, although he never endorsed a particular candidate.

After much debate both Mr. and Mrs. Jeffcoat decided to vote for John Kerry, they said. "We listened to them all but he just rested in our minds," Mrs. Jeffcoat said.

As in Iowa and New Hampshire, here many Democratic voters seemed less concerned about whom they were voting for than whom they were voting against. Putting an end to the Bush administration was a high priority.

"I voted against Cheney and Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld," said Joseph Lipton, a retired lawyer. He said he had cast his ballot for John Kerry.