SC elections could see major changes as lawmakers tackle bills on voter access
A South Carolina House panel weighing changes to the state’s election laws could soon decide between two dueling pieces of legislation — one bill that would vastly expand access to the ballot and another that would curb absentee voting while expanding the days voters can cast ballots in person.
One bill would allow voters to register to vote on the day of an election and allow all eligible voters to cast absentee ballots without needing an excuse. The other bill would give people more time to vote, but would also restrict access to absentee voting, clawing back the state’s vote by mail practice.
The proposals are only the latest in election-related measures filed by Democrats and Republicans in the Republican-dominated state Legislature, months after the November 2020 election when the General Assembly expanded absentee voting to every South Carolinian because of COVID-19.
Lawmakers from both parties have collectively filed dozens of election-related bills since November, some of them that would further expand voter access to the ballot box or tighten voter ID laws. And more than 30 of those bills have been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee’s election laws panel since the year started, though most have not received a hearing and few may actually gain traction.
Neither bill before the elections law panel in recent and coming days is expected to become law this year. Both failed to pass any chamber by the Legislature’s April crossover deadline and now require a much heavier lift to pass.
But the panel’s chair, state Rep. Jay Jordan, R-Florence, said he intends to schedule more hearings so the public can respond.
A hearing on the legislation sponsored by Republican state Rep. Brandon Newton has been scheduled for Wednesday. But it was unclear when and if a hearing on state Democratic state Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter’s bill would be rescheduled after the panel left the hearing on Thursday with more people scheduled to testify.
Neither Jordan or House Judiciary Committee chairman Chris Murphy, R-Dorchester, were available for comment by press time.
“All South Carolinians have the right and opportunity to vote and also taking into considering our responsibility to make sure that vote is protected and secure based on the underlying sanctity of that vote,” Jordan said Thursday.
Jordan added, it’s “one of the most important issues we’ll take up here in the State House.”
Democrats’ proposal
Democrats and Republicans say they want to increase voter participation, but the sponsors behind the dueling bills take different paths to get there.
On one end of the political bench, state Rep. Cobb-Hunter’s election bill would, she said, remove barriers between voters and ballots by allowing for same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting in the 30 days before an election. It also would remove the state’s witness signature requirement on absentee ballots and allow college students to use their university ID card to vote.
The bill also would allow drop boxes where voters can drop off their absentee ballots and a vote-by-mail system. And it would require that inmates are made aware of their voting rights once released from the state’s prisons.
“We are a democracy,” said the Orangeburg Democrat and the longest-serving state House member. “We say that we are the best in the world, and so I think it’s important for us to stop just paying lip service to this but put our money where our mouth is.”
It is crucial to tear down those barriers that make it harder to vote, particularly for those voters who lack transportation, Cobb-Hunter, who represents a rural district, told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Cobb-Hunter said the Legislature needs to get away from a “selective level of trust” with voters, but she also conceded the “decks may or may not be stacked” against her bill, considering the committee is controlled by Republicans and so is the state House.
“We trust them (voters) when they vote for us, but when we think they’re going to vote for somebody else, then our level of trust somehow diminishes,” Cobb-Hunter said.
Republicans’ proposal
It is true that the Republican-sponsored legislation has a greater chance at becoming law, though the bill’s sponsor told The State there is room for compromise in the details.
Republican state Rep. Newton counters his bill would likely increase voter participation beyond what it is today but keep in law the state’s 30-day deadline to register to vote. It also would get rid of any unmanned absentee ballot drop boxes and allow county election offices more time to open absentee ballot envelopes, as they were allowed to do last year.
But the biggest change would be the creation of early, in-person voting for all eligible voters — a practice the state does not currently allow.
The Lancaster County lawmaker’s proposal would create two weeks of early, in-person voting before a general election and add more early voting precincts. But, if Newton’s bill became law, it also would strip a handful of the excuses than the current 18 voters can use to vote absentee.
Voters who live overseas, serve in the military or have physical disabilities are included in the proposed list still allowed to vote absentee. But voters could no longer use work or a vacation or jury duty as an excuse. As written now, the bill also would raise the excused age to vote absentee to age 75 and older, up from age 65. However, Newton told The State that is likely to stay at 65.
“By having no-excuse early voting there really isn’t a reason to have those as absentee,” Newton said.
Early voting has not been traditionally embraced by some Republican-controlled legislatures or governors.
But Newton, a fan of in-person early voting, said the COVID-19 voting experience proved what the Legislature can do to not only ensure voters have enough time to cast their ballot in person but also to shorten voting lines.
“I think us having the system we had during COVID, a lot of people experienced in-person absentee voting and liked it. I think a lot of people on our side of the aisle and Republicans have come around to that conclusion,” Newton said of early voting. “Or at least I feel they have.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Rep. Brandon Newton is a Lancaster County lawmaker, whose House district includes some of both Lancaster and York counties.
