South Carolina Democrats approached a record turnout Saturday.

With better than 99 percent of returns in, some 527,000 voters came out, according to unofficial tabulations, easily surpassing 2016's 371,000 when Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders.

The Democratic record remains the 2008 results when an estimated 532,000 took part in Barack Obama's win over Clinton and John Edwards.

Charleston County elections Director Joe Debney said the first statewide use of the new paper ballot system was made easy by the fact there was only a single race voters had to choose from.

The most significant voting issues in the county were at Royal Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, and St. John's High School on Johns Island, he said, where some said the morning wait was as long as 40 minutes.

Debney worked with staff there and got the wait down to 15 minutes, he said.

In the afternoon Saturday, S.C. Democratic Party Executive Director Jay Parmley said the "Operation Chaos" plan for conservatives to come out and swing the primary for the GOP's perceived weakest opponent wasn't gaining traction, according to early data culled from absentee ballots.

"Let me be very clear: The South Carolina Republican Party has been our partner in this effort," he said. "They have insisted emphatically their members not interfere."

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Officials won't know for sure how much of an influence crossover voting may have for another month. That's when the state Election Commission releases its analysis of primary voting participation trends from 2016 and 2020.

It would show which voters cast ballots in the GOP primary then but voted Democratic on Saturday.

There was evidence of Republican voters crossing over into the Democratic vote, as is allowed under the state's open primary system.

For example, at the Mount Pleasant Town Hall one voter who identified himself as a Republican said he marked his ballot for Bernie Sanders because he knew President Donald Trump could beat him in November.

When asked why he crossed the lines, he responded: “That’s my right.”

On the chance there were problems, Democrats set up three voter-issue response centers Saturday, in Charleston, Columbia and Greenville. As of 2:30 p.m., 132 calls had come in, all for minor issues.

Berkeley County elections director Adam Hammons also reported the day going off without a significant hiccup.

Adam Benson and Fleming Smith contributed.