Amanda Coyne

The Greenville News

A "huge majority" of the South Carolina Republican Party's tickets for this weekend's presidential debate have been given to county chairs, party activists and elected officials, SCGOP Executive Director Hope Walker said. The party will no longer distribute tickets through a lottery system, as it had originally planned, citing limited space at the Peace Center.

More than 25,000 people requested debate tickets through the lottery system, including some of the party activists and officials who have been given tickets "to recognize their hard work and leadership," Walker said in an emailed statement.

In each Republican debate, the Republican National Committee allocates tickets to the host state's Republican party, each candidate's campaign, and debate partners -- in this weekend's case, that would include CBS and Google.

Your best chance at getting a ticket is to be an active party or campaign volunteer, or a major campaign donor, said Chad Groover, chair of the Greenville County Republican Party. Groover was given enough tickets for some of the county party's most active volunteers to attend the debate.

The debate will be held in the Peace Center's 2,100-seat concert hall on Saturday night. The RNC handles ticketing and gave the SCGOP a portion of those tickets; how many has not yet been specified by either group.

The Peace Center is much smaller than the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center, the nearly 14,000-seat venue that held the last Republican debate in South Carolina. The Bon Secours Wellness Arena, about a mile from the Peace Center, has a capacity of more than 15,000, but hosts a Swamp Rabbits hockey game the night of the debate. A venue change may have resulted in wider accessibility to tickets for the public, Groover said, noting it was very easy for him to get a seat at the North Charleston debate.

"If we’d had it at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, it would be a different ballgame altogether," Groover said. "Even if they’d had it Bob Jones (University), i think their auditorium seats at least 7,000."

Many of the 25,000 people who entered the initial ticket lottery were average voters like John McGhee, who requested tickets with his friends. McGhee doesn't volunteer with any campaign or party organization, but considers himself "the average voter" who keeps close tabs on the presidential race.

"We didn't have any idea how much demand there would be for tickets," McGhee said. "If they're distributing them to the volunteers, I'm okay with that."