Weeks of stump speeches, stomping of feet and somewhat contentious banter will end today as candidates for national, state and local office turn things over to the ultimate decision makers — the voters.

Balloting will take place across South Carolina with polls open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

If absentee voting is any indication, today’s primary balloting may set records for recent participation. Officials in Pickens and Oconee counties said more than 900 absentee ballots had been cast in each county as of Monday. (See related story.)

At the national level, voters will be choosing U.S. Senate candidates on both sides of the ticket with most of the emphasis in the Upstate being on the race between incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham and challenger Buddy Witherspoon.

In Pickens County, four countywide races will likely attract voters, including a challenge to long-time incumbent Sheriff David Stone by two veteran lawmen — Brian Garrett and Rick Clark. Also on the Republican primary ballot will be a four-man race — Ben Mann, Harold (Pat) Welborn, Ben Finley and Jimmy Moore — for clerk of court, a position being vacated by LeJette Gatlin, and a two-person race — Brent Suddeth and April Page Gillespie — for the vacant seat of county auditor. And, not to be outdone, there is also a race for county coroner between deputy coroner Kandy Kelley and Mitchell Davis.

If that was not enough to attract Pickens electors, there has been a heated campaign between incumbent State Rep. B. R. Skelton and challenger Troy Whitehurst, as well as a race between incumbent Sen. Larry Martin and Mac Martin, who is the mayor of Central.

Oconee has had a rancorous Republican primary season, led by a battle between incumbent State representative Bill Sandifer and challenger Ed Rumsey. Although both men went into the campaign pledging a clean race on the issues, the campaign quickly dissolved into a war words with Rumsey depicting Sandifer as a big spender and Sandifer arguing that Rumsey was “puppet” of the governor who is seeking support for a school voucher system. Gov. Mark Sanford fueled the fire when he endorsed Rumsey.

Oconee County Republican Party Chairman Eddie Adams said the party will have some healing to do after the primary and said he felt the state representative race became more about an agenda in Columbia than the issues of importance in Oconee.

In a Saturday morning forum of GOP candidates, Adams said the exchanges between Sandifer and Rumsey were the most charged. Ten candidates and 50 spectators were on hand for the event.

“Some of the candidates were more passionate than others,” Adams said. “It was a heated exchange, back and forth between the state representative candidates.”

The other races that became somewhat heated involved Adams’ wife, Chrissy, the incumbent solicitor, who is being challenged in the 10th Circuit by Sarah Drawdy.

Adams said both his wife and Drawdy worked hard on the stump, adding that, as a husband, he couldn’t wait for 9 p.m. Tuesday night to come around.

Four county council races will also attract Oconee voters — three Republican and one Democrat. In District 2, Wayne McCall is challenging Tommy Crumpton in his re-election bid. In District 5, incumbent Frank Ables is being challenged by Reg Dexter. In District 4, newcomers Stan Smith and Joel Thrift are vying for the GOP nomination, while Bryan Jenkins and John McDonald are squaring off for the Democrat nomination.