news 10 at 6:00, voters in the democratic primary have their say. plus. >reporter: you have an hour left. expect temperatures in the middle 50s and they will be going down this evening. how much will they drop? i will tell you coming up. midlands is celebrating the next generation of history makers. wis news 10 at 6:00 starts right now. >>announcer: live, local, now, this is wis news 10. >> anchor: it is primary day in south carolina. and wis has complete coverage. hi, everybody, i am dawndy mercer plank. >> and i'm charles molineaux. one hour from closing time at the polls. the south carolina democratic primary. south carolina voters are picking which democrat they want on the ticket in november. let's check in now with alex who is live at one of the polling places right now, alleypolling places right now, alley. >> reporter: dawndy and charles>> reporter: dawndndand

commission tell me that meadowlark mark is one of their busiest locations and something we haven't seen a whole day, a line of voters queueing up. until then the staff here told me today was really an anomaly with the primaries falling on a saturday. they say normally they have a big rush at the beginning of the day and a big rush at the end of the day. but instead, most of today has been but steady crowds which is similar to what we saw last friday for the republican primary. now right now at 6:00, and around 500 voters have passed through the doors. those i spoke with say today was about performing a civic duty and making a voice heard in a year where polls show more than 60% of americans believe our country is headed in the wrong direction. while some can bees resolute in the vote they cast, one voter said she just recently came to her decision. >> i kind of waited it out until it gets to situation like this to the primary where you

there are too many candidates to try to navigate through before this one. >> reporter: you now have about 58 minutes left to get to your polling location. i heard a few people in line asking what to do if they don't have their voter id with them. and the answer is, you don't need it. you can use a driver's license instead or another approved id. we have those listed on your screen right now. also on our web site, wistv.comalso on our web site, wistv.com. and, of course, a lot of eyes in the next hour will be on these locations trying to figure out what voter turnout looks like. the election commission tells me that many polling locations are reporting a low and slow turnout, but absentee ballots are up to 54,000, which is 20,000 more than we saw eight years ago. live in columbia, allie spillyards, wis staition.

expecting a big win in the pollexpecting a big win in the polls. she was in birm miningham, alabama. she went to two downtown cafes to talk to customers and posed through photos. she then got an energetic reception. she told voters she has the scar tissue from political life to take on the republican presidential nominee. >> you know i don't know who they are going to nominate and i am hopeful i will be the nominee to take on whoever they nominate you. >> dawndy: meaghan norman is at a center on blason street. meaghan. >> reporter: doors are set to open for that watch party as the polls close at 7:00. hillary clinton and her supporters are expected a big win tonight. the latest polls show a 30the latest polls show a 30-point advantage over senator

many say that sander also move on and campaign on super tuesday states instead of staytuesday states instead of watch the results come in. secretary clinton has had an aggressive week on the campaign flail south carolina. since tuesday, her campaign says clinton, her husband and chelsea has made 15 stops statewide. that means four town halls on thursday and yesterday, ford plaza. supporters say they stand by clinton's experience, and they hope her supporters deliver very big numbers tonight. >> i have been around her almost -- to every presningt my district delivering doughnuts this morning, so i kind of looked at voter turnout. so far because it is saturday not as high as it would normally be on a tuesday, but i do expect at the end of the day you will see a election -- a nomination at least of south carolina of hillary clinton, and judging what what we have been able to do in south carolina with barack obama and now with hillary clinton, i do believe we will pro pevl our

-- propel our victory today in south carolina to the victory nationally as well. >> president obama has been over the last eight years, someone who has a strong track record. who understands how gridloc works. how congress does not work. and so those are some of the things that led me to support secretary clinton. she understands how this get things done in washington, understands some of the challenges she is going to be inheriting. >> reporter: i am told after hillary clinton will move on and start campaigning in super tuesday states including tennessee and arkansas, but tonight, her focus is right here in south carolina. and a big part of her winning here in south carolina is winning that minority vote. now senator bernie sanders has been mounting a challenge in minority communities in many parts, but clinton's campaign believes she will win that minority vote by a very large margin. the very latest from the clinton camp.

norman, staitionnorman, staition news 10. vermont senator bernie sanders chose to get to several other states that are scheduled it have primaries in super tuesday. he was scheduled to make stops in texas and minnesota to speak to voters. >> i believe that not only can we win this democratic nominating process, but we can defeat trump and defeat him. >> charles: . >> charles: while sanders was not in south carolina some of the faces behind his campaign were. joining us live with more. mike. >> reporter:ood evening, charles. many people know shah the vermont senator was facevermont senator was facing a major uphill battle into the palmetto state coming into this primary. every poll showed him trailing hillary clinton by a large

leaders of his campaign says regardless of what happensregardless of what happens south carolina they are not giving up his chances of winning democratic nomination. from the head of the bernie sanders campaign jeff weaver and spent several days here in south carolina this week meeting with voters across the state. that included a rally at township auditorium last night columbia. to cap things, he believes sanders message for workingsanders message for working-class voters and plans to raise the minimum wage makes public college education free and expand health care will move him forward in the primary season. hoping for good results in western states like michigan and ohio and past super tuesdayand ohio and past super tuesday. >> a lot of states come. we haven't been to california. we haven't been to new york state and pennsylvania. a lot of big states come in this race and a lot of small states to come. after super tuesday, it will only have 15 stas where you have voted. so the 50 states, district of columbia, territories.

having that all over the convention. >> reporter: while senator sanders is not in south carolina, his supporter also be out in force. from the bernie sanders campaign, there will be a watch party at pearl's oyster bar in the vista at 6:30. we will bring you coveragagwith that and more on our election special starting at 7:00. live, mike desumma, news 10. both parties do have their nominee. on march 1, 12 states hold their primaries. the primaries are nicknamed the sec primary because some of those states have team notice southeastern conference, alabama, alaska, arkansas, colorado, georgia, massachusetts, minnesota, oklahoma, tennessee, texas, vermont and virginia. all presidential candidates are on the campaign trail with only three days until super tuesday. nbc's steve handelsman reports.

south carolina, hillary clinton went to alabama. >> we have a lot of work to do in america. what are we waiting for. >> reporter: south carolina democrats, most of them african-americans, voted for their long-tiue favorite. >> hillary clinton. she is a very smart and capable woman. >> reporter: at celebrity>> reporter: at celebrities hair salon, most trust clinton. >> bill clinton. >> reporter: bernie sanders sun proven? >> definitely unproven. >> reporter: they are hearing she is a d.c. insider. >> actually outside the system. >> bernie sanders. i feel like he is honest. >> reporter: sanders went to texas working to win more than just his home state of vermont in three days on super tuesday. >> we are not going to allow the trumps of the world to divide us up. >> reporter: focused on the biggest super tuesday state. >> we are tied in texas and i

>> reporter: ted cruz's home state where cruz leads in the polls. >> pick a side. and i'll tell you this. when it comes to picking a side, i pick the side, and i stand against washington and with the american people. >> reporter: like cruz, marco rubio on the paper can still beat trump, and their fight is ugly. >> a con artist will never get control of this party. >> a little mouth on him, bing, bing, a bing. >> the guy with the worst -- in america. >> i thought ted cruz was a liar but rubio was worse. >> reporter: three days until a showdown. i am steve handelsman, nbc news, columbia, south carolina. and stay with wis as we follow the presidential candidates' road to the white house. go to our web site at wistv.com for complete coverage of decision 2016. wis will continue its coverage of the democratic primary after the break.

check of your forecast af . all right, welcome back, everyone. let's start by looking at the great conditions we have in place across the area. high pressure dominating. that means we have nothing but sunshine and crystal clear skies throughout the course of the night. no worries about rainfall. there isn't even any worries about clouds. now as far as today is concerned, we did warm up to 58 official me. 57 in columbia. 58 for lexington. 54 winnsboro. and 51 up in camden. we see the 50s holing on. you can expect them to stay in

it should be pretty nice if you were trying to get that last-minute push out to the polls. as far as wind speed, they have been good, not a factor. calm winds through winnsboro. and in manning, about 7 miles per hour for through. and saluda and lawrence and st. matthews and sumter. high pressure will continue to dominate. you see it sliding up from the west that will compete. and of course you will get a warm piece of air from the warm side of low pressure. tomorrow's high temperatures will reach the upper 60s to low 70s. by the time we get into monday and tuesday those slevts make a nice appearance, but all will be in advance of a system that is going to move through. into the day on monday, you will see a front start to march over, it will not bring us a significant amount of rain. looks like a situation where we see a few additional clouds. one or two sprinkles in the upstate and we transition into monday just because of the cloud cover. i do expect most of the

by the time it t ts here. t the back end of the front is where it gets interesting. slides south of us into tuesday giving a partly cloudy skies and dry conditions, but into wednesday, we start to see the moisture moving up across the deep south and give us an opportunity for rain on wednesday. earl on, it s looking like we would see a significant rain event on wednesday. it now looks like we will see a 30% chance of rain early on and looking like a 50% chance and looks like most of that moisture is going to encounter some drier air and we will not see a whole lot in the way of rain then. overnight tonight, 35 degrees for you. a chilly night. 69 expected for you tomorrorow. will continue from the southwest. at times tomorrow, make it breezy. i am expecting winds to blow to perhaps up to 15 miles per hourperhaps up to 15 miles per hour. certainly not the 20 and 30-mile-per-hour gusts that we saw last week. so we will see those 70s in play for monday and tuesday and the rain arrives on wednesday with 65 degrees as our daytime high, and he will be in first alert mode then. cloudy on thursday. by the time we get into friday, notice 58 in play, and it

though we have to deal with a few spotty showers. 59 in place for your saturday and looks like cloudy by then and then it looks like decent conditions out there.

south carolina will be a battleground for hillary clinton and bernie sanders when it comes to the african-american vote. recent cnn orc south carolina polls see this clinton is favored 65% among blacks compared to bernie sanders at 28%. election watchers are not expecting blockbuster turnout in one important midlands county. orangeburg is a long-time strong hold with democrats with a large number of black officials and voters. state chairman jamie harrison said the county's democrat are known for their efforts of getting people out to the polls for election day but this year he is -- not predicting big turnout there. >> dawndy: when the polls close, we will break them down

have the numbers county by county. >> sam: we will be breaking it down county by county. each candidate has a specific color. as these numbers come in and polls do close in 40 minutes, we will see these counties start lighting up for whichever candidate is winning in that particular county. even though a certain number of precincts may be reporting and they may all have reported as the candidate is leading each county, it will light up for that county. at 7:00 we will be talking delegate count. breaking down the states how they are allocated. a strategist will be sitting here with me and looking at the state as it is lighting up who is doing well here. we will be keeping an eye on this for you and bringing you the results in real time. dawndy, charles. >> dawndy: thank you.

evening charlestonev i think that if one were to look at the qualifications of the candidates and really reflect upon whahaour country can be, and look at who can best get us to that place. i think it's hands down hillary clinton. hillary is the only candidate i trust to fight the injustice too many feel and build on the president's progress, not rip it away. my heart has always been with hillary clinton.

. wis is the place to be for complete coverage of the south carolina democratic primary and

right now here is what is ahead on nbc nightly news. >> good afternoon, ahead for us up-to-the-minute coverage of the democratic primary in south carolina. could the u.s.-cuban relations shut the door for cuban immigrants. the rush to the border. and the oscars and how the controversy could play out when we see you back here for nightly news. >> dawndy: after nightly news, wis will be back with a special report on democratic primary results. our coverage starts at 7:00. >> charles: we are just 30 minutes away from closing time at the polls. check back in with allie allie. >> reporter: most of the day it has been steady as people came to cast their vote. right now a long line for 30 minutes to go before the polls close. the line started form being an hour ago and it has not let up. now right now, they estimate --

estimated about 500 people have been through. i counted another 20 or 30 voters that have been through since then, and i am sure those numbers are going to climb in the next 30 minutes. they say there have been more interest around the selection than they remember in recent years, and, of course, we saw record numbers in both absentee votes and votes for the republican primary last week. we can say the same about absentee ballots this election. so many are going to be watching the same of the numbers or totals tonight. now you have just 30 minutes left to get out and place your vote. remember, you got to have a valid id. i heard some people in line asking if they need their voter registration, and the answer isregistration, and the answer is, no. but you will need a driver's license or passport or other id. we have a list of them on the screen and they are also on our web site, wistv.com. and i will go ahead and tell you when i was speaking with the election commission earlier

anecdotally, most of the polling locations are reporting a smaller turnout than normal, but of course we won't know if that is the case. until those numbers are totaled here in the next hour. live in columbia, allie spillyards, wis news 10. >> dawndnd thanks, allie. >> charles: we will be right back with one more check of your forecast.

leaders paying their dues are a lot of sunshine for you. now spring doesn't officially arrive until march 20, but it is still going to be very nice. 69. 71 for you on monday. and on tuesday, we are expecting 73 and we continue to see that warm air until our system arrives on wednesday and gives us 65 and 30% chance of showers. cloudy and then the opportunity for spotty showers in place for you on friday with 58 degrees for your high. friday and saturday. let's just enjoy the 60s and the 70s while they are around.

>> dawndy: von, thank you so much for that. in the final days of black history month. the midlands is offering a special salute, that is, to talented achievers. >> charles: they are students with hope for the future. >> reporter: good evening. black history month is wrapping up, but the celebrations are still under way. we are here at brooklyn baptist church in west columbia where the columbia urban league is recognizing 700 raff am high school students across the state. now this is the state's largest black history month program. it recognizes high school students who work year round to achieve all things education, and that was the message today in what iseing called the young and gifted program. students here being honored say this today's program is really one of a kind. >> that all my hard work has paid off and people are watching me in a positive way.

have selected the highway of achievement and this is good that we need to lift these young peoplep. >> reporter: a very large crowd here today, over 2,000 people in attendance to recognize those more than 700 students from eight different counties here in south carolina. just a great black history month celebration. reporting in west columbia. i am kara line petrika, wis news 10.

election coverag it's the first contest in the south for democrats in the south