Voting Reforms Moves From The SC House To The SC Senate

The House amended, then sent to the Senate H. 4919, an absentee ballot and other comprehensive voting reforms proposal. This bill would establish Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. early voting in South Carolina for the two weeks preceding any general election and enact various other voting reforms as well. A county’s population and square mileage would determine the number of early voting locations to be established.

The additional reforms would include prohibiting candidates from filing more than one intention of candidacy statement for a particular election. It also would prohibit candidates from being nominated by more than one political party for a single office, or candidates' names appearing on a ballot more than once in a single election. Candidates can still be nominated by one political party, but cannot appear on the ballot after losing a political party primary.

Also, voter registration applicants would have to make an additional oath that they, to the best of their knowledge, are not already a registered voter in any other state. While their registration information may be used for operating the voting system in place in our state, the State Election Commission [SEC] Director would have to certify annually that this information is being securely maintained in accordance with listed national standards. Before any new voting systems could be purchased, the SEC would be required to receive input from the public, academia, public interest organizations, local election officials, and policy makers. Optical scanners in existing, or proposed, systems would have to meet strict standards as specified in this bill.

Voter registration lists would have to be amended within seven days of the SEC receiving any information that disqualifies any registered voter.

Absentee ballot oaths would be required to have the printed name of the witness, in addition to their signature and address. For anyone qualified to vote by absentee ballot, a new reason to vote absentee would be that a voter is going to be absent from the county for the duration of the early voting period and on Election Day. Being on vacation during early voting or on Election Day, would no longer be a valid reason for obtaining an absentee ballot. Applications for these ballots would include the last four digits of voters’ social security numbers. No more than ten absentee ballot applications could be distributed to any one person. Fraudulent registering and other scams would see potential penalties of up to $1,000 or up to five years in jail. Fraudulent voters would face fines from $1,000 to $5,000 and up to five years in jail. These penalties extend to poll workers and other election officials who commit misconduct in the election, or in the discharge of their duties.

Absentee ballot delivery would require an authorized returnee to produce a current and valid form of government-issued photo identification. Receipt and opening absentee ballot return envelopes would be able to begin at 6:01 p.m. on the Saturday before Election Day, and tabulating absentee ballots could start at 7:00 a.m. on the calendar day before Election Day. Anyone reporting absentee ballot results before the polls are closed would face criminal penalties of up to five years in jail, or fines of up to $1,000.

Any voter who has already voted absentee could cast a provisional ballot on Election Day. This provisional ballot could be counted only if that voter's absentee ballot is not received in the county voter registration and election commission offices by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.

Post- election hand count audits of five percent of the ballots cast would be done after every statewide general election. Other auditing methods would be utilized, including risk-limiting audits, results verification by third-party vendors, ballot reconciliation, or any other method deemed appropriate by the State Election Commission [SEC] Director. These audit results would be published on the SEC website.