COLUMBIA, S.C. — True early voting in South Carolina appears likely to become a reality this year.
The House and Senate on Wednesday approved elections bills that add two weeks of early in-person voting, establish a set number of early voting sites in each county and authorize election officials to begin examining and tabulating absentee votes before Election Day.
The popular legislation had appeared dead just a few weeks ago because of the Senate’s insistence on including a provision giving the body say-so over the governor’s appointments to the state elections board, which the House and Gov. Henry McMaster would not entertain.
Senators late Wednesday dropped that demand, settling instead for confirmation of the state election director and a process for removing the elections board or its executive director if they fail to enforce and defend or publicly discredit state elections laws.
“In a way, what we have here is better than advice and consent on the board,” said GOP Sen. Chip Campsen, the amended election bill’s sponsor.
Campsen explained that while senators may not be able to deny board nominees up front, they now have a process for removing them once they’re seated, if need be.
The Senate’s desire for more control over the state elections board stems from the 2020 presidential election when then-State Election Director Marci Andino angered Republican lawmakers by asking them to scrap the state's witness signature requirement for mail-in voting and provide absentee ballot drop boxes at polling place in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats sued to enforce COVID-19-related restrictions for the 2020 election and U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs ruled that South Carolina absentee voters need not obtain a witness signature for that November’s election. Republicans challenged the ruling, which was overturned on appeal, but their frustration with Andino and the state election board didn’t wane.
Andino, who had led the state elections agency since 2003, ultimately resigned under pressure last October. Howard Knapp, who previously worked as the director of voter services, was installed as the new state election director.
“If you look at what happened in South Carolina in 2020 … our election laws held up really well,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said earlier this week. “We performed much better than what you see in some other states, but the one obvious glaring problem was that the Election Commission did not defend state law.”
House Majority Whip Brandon Newton, a Republican who shepherded the legislation through the House, said the early voting provisions would take effect immediately after the governor signs the bill into law, meaning they could be in force for next month’s primaries.
McMaster, who was vehemently opposed to giving the Senate confirmation powers over election board commissioners, said Thursday he was pleased with the compromise reached on the bill.
“It was high time and I’m glad that the Senate compromised with the House and we are gonna get this done,” he told reporters. “Because we want people to vote. There’s a lot at stake in the next election and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The State Elections Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill, which would have significant implications for the agency.
The legislation establishes qualifications for the five commissioners, permits their removal by the governor or through a legal action filed by the House or Senate, and prohibits them from establishing emergency election regulations, like those contemplated during the 2020 election.
In addition to appointing a commission chairman, the governor also would appoint a vice chairman who would be ready to take the helm should the chairman be removed, Campsen said. The board chairman and vice chairman would serve two-year terms.
The bill also sets eligibility requirements for the executive director and limits the director’s term to four years, although a director may be reappointed with approval of the Senate.
Outside of firming up control over the election director and board, the election legislation also sets stiffer penalties for election tampering and fraud.
It makes it a felony for any election official, worker, candidate or watcher to publicly report absentee ballot results before polls are closed and turns voter fraud from a misdemeanor into a felony. Both crimes would be punishable by up to five years in prison.
