There's one last thing I want to write about before Election Day on November 3, 2026: the two county referendum questions that Greenville County residents will see at the end of their ballot this year.
What's a County Referendum?
A referendum is a question or policy proposal that voters are asked to decide about. Your Sample Ballot calls these "local questions" in a rare use of everyday, simplified language on a political ballot.
You can find a list with links for various local referendums on the Greenville County voter registration information page.
If you live inside Greenville city limits, you'll see questions related to both the county and the city. In both cases, the questions ask about something commonly called a "penny sales tax."
What's a Penny Sales Tax?
This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer! The clearest definition I found was on the Berkeley County, SC, website.
The One Cent Sales Tax, otherwise referred to as the “Penny Sales Tax,” adds one cent for every dollar spent on taxable items.
This is sometimes also called a 1% sales tax.
In Greenville County, there are two related questions. The first question is whether voters approve the tax at all. The proposed tax would raise money for specific kinds of infrastructure projects.
In this case, money raised through the tax would be divided up:
- 90% for road construction
- 7% for land preservation
- 3% for public transportation
The second question is whether Greenville County Council can take out loans to get started on projects right away and pay those loans back with the money raised by the sales tax.
If you live in a city (like Greenville) that is also proposing a penny sales tax, then you'd pay both the city and the county tax if both proposals are passed by voters.
Additional Resources in Simple Language
These referendum questions can sound very technical and full of legal jargon. For some additional explainers, check out these resources:
- July 21, 2026 County Council video recap from when the referendum questions were approved by Council
- The Post and Courier Greenville explainer
The Bottom Line
I won't tell you how to vote, but I will say this: if you think our roads need fixing and you support public transportation, then we've got to pay for it all somehow.
