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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- More than 54,000 South Carolina voters have requested to vote absentee in the general election.

Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said Wednesday the numbers are in line with the state's last gubernatorial election. With three weeks until Election Day, 54,322 voters statewide had requested absentee ballots. People can vote absentee either by mail or in person at county election offices.

In the 2006 general election, nearly 76,000 voters cast absentee ballots.

But absentee requests are far below the record numbers from 2008. In the last presidential election, more than 342,000 people voted absentee. That was nearly 18 percent of total ballots cast.

As of Oct. 1, 2.6 million residents were registered to vote.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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