Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
AMENDED
May 11, 2022
S. 133
Introduced by Senators Massey, Gustafson, Rice, Hembree, Kimbrell, Turner, Bennett, Climer, Garrett, Cash, Adams, Verdin, Peeler, Grooms, Young, Campsen, M. Johnson, Talley, Goldfinch, Shealy, Cromer, Senn and Fanning
S. Printed 5/11/22--H.
Read the first time March 29, 2022.
TO MAKE APPLICATION TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO CALL A CONVENTION FOR PROPOSING AMENDMENTS PURSUANT TO ARTICLE V OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION LIMITED TO PROPOSING AMENDMENTS THAT IMPOSE FISCAL RESTRAINTS ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, LIMIT THE POWER AND JURISDICTION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND LIMIT THE TERMS OF OFFICE FOR ITS OFFICIALS AND FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN RESERVATIONS, UNDERSTANDINGS, AND DECLARATIONS LIMITING THE APPLICATION; AND TO PROVIDE CERTAIN SELECTION CRITERIA FOR DELEGATES TO A CONVENTION OF THE STATES AS WELL AS LIMITATIONS UPON THEIR AUTHORITY.
Amend Title To Conform
Whereas, the annual federal budget is not in balance, and the federal public debt is now more than twenty-seven trillion dollars; and
Whereas, continued deficit spending demonstrates an unwillingness or inability of both the federal executive and legislative branches to spend no more than available revenues; and
Whereas, fiscal irresponsibility at the federal level is lowering our standard of living, destroying jobs, and endangering economic opportunity now and for the next generation. Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. (A) The General Assembly of the State of South Carolina hereby applies to Congress, under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention of the states limited to proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring that, in the absence of a national emergency, the total of all federal appropriations made by Congress for any fiscal year may not exceed the total of all estimated federal revenues for that fiscal year, together with any related and appropriate fiscal restraints.
(B) During a convention of the states, making changes to the thirteenth, fourteenth, or fifteenth amendments to the United States Constitution is prohibited.
SECTION 2. Copies of this application must be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from this State.
SECTION 3. Copies of this resolution must also be transmitted to the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several states, requesting their cooperation in this endeavor.
SECTION 4. This application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states have made applications on the same subject. This application supersedes all previous applications by this General Assembly on the same subject.
SECTION 5. Section 7-3-10 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding an appropriately lettered subsection to read:
"( ) The commission and the executive director shall have the powers and duties as enumerated in this title, including plenary authority to supervise and standardize the performance, conduct, and practices of the county board of elections and voter registration, as established pursuant to Article 1, Chapter 5 to administer elections and voter registration in the State and ensure those boards' compliance with applicable state or federal law or State Election Commission policies, procedures, and regulations regarding the conduct of elections or the voter registration process by all persons involved in the elections process. The State Election Commission may promulgate regulations necessary to effectuate the provisions of this subsection."
SECTION 6. A. Article 1, Chapter 13, Title 7 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 7-13-25. (A) Monday through Saturday for a two-week period preceding a general election conducted pursuant to Section 7-13-10, a primary, special elections, and all municipal elections, all qualified electors of this State must be allowed to cast an early in-person ballot. To the extent time permits, and for a period of time as may be determined by the Executive Director of the State Election Commission, all qualified electors must be allowed to cast an early in-person ballot prior to a primary runoff.
(B) The period of early voting begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. on each day of the early voting period, excluding Sunday, until the conclusion of the early voting period at 6:00 p.m. on the Saturday immediately prior to the election.
(C) For a general election conducted pursuant to Section 7-13-10, each county board of voter registration and elections must establish early in-person voting locations in an amount based on the following formulas, whichever is higher, but not to exceed seven locations:
(1) The number of registered voters in the county:
(a) 1 - 39,999 voters: one location
(b) 40,000 - 79,999 voters: two locations
(c) 80,000 - 119,999 voters: three locations
(d) 120,000 - 159,999 voters: four locations
(e) 160,000 - 199,999 voters: five locations
(f) 200,000 - 239,999 voters: six locations
(g) 240,000 voters and up: seven locations
(2) The size of the county in square miles:
(a) 0-199 square miles: one location
(b) 200-399 square miles: two locations
(c) 400-599 square miles: three locations
(d) 600-799 square miles: four locations
(e) 800-999 square miles: five locations
(f) 1000-1199 square miles: six locations
(g) 1200 square miles and up: seven locations
(D) If the main office of each county board of voter registration and elections is used for an early in-person voting location, it constitutes one of the early in-person voting locations as delineated in this section.
(E)(1) County boards of voter registration and elections must determine locations for early voting centers. In selecting locations, boards must consider geography, population, and ADA compliant accessibility. Boards must distribute the locations throughout the county to maximize accessibility for all voters in the county to the greatest extent possible. The Executive Director of the State Election Commission may, at his discretion, direct the move of early voting centers to ensure proper distribution through each county.
(2) When the early in-person location formulas in subsection (C)(1) and (C)(2) produce results that differ by four or more locations, the Executive Director may authorize a county board to use two fewer than the higher number determined in subsection (C). The Executive Director also may authorize the loss of an early in-person location due to an emergency such as fire or flood.
(F) The county election board must set and publish the location of each early in-person voting center at least fourteen days before the early voting period begins. Publication of the schedule must be made, at a minimum, to a website or webpage managed by, or on behalf of, each respective county election board.
(G) Upon the daily closure of each early in-person voting location during the period established in subsection (B), all ballots must be transported to the county board of voter registration and elections and stored in a secure location.
(H) County boards of voter registration and elections, in their discretion, may establish any number of early in-person voting locations for use in primary, primary runoff, special elections, and all municipal elections, and the formulas provided in this section do not apply.
(I) Each early voting center must have available every ballot style in use in the particular county for that election."
B. Section 7-11-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 7-11-10. (A) Nominations for candidates for the offices to be voted on in a general or special election may be by political party primary, by political party convention, or by petition; however, a person who was defeated as a candidate for nomination to an office in a party primary or party convention shall may not have his name placed on the ballot for the ensuing general or special election, except that this section does not prevent a defeated candidate from later becoming his party's nominee for that office in that election if the candidate first selected as the party's nominee dies, resigns, is disqualified, or otherwise ceases to become the party's nominee for that office before the election is held.
(B) A candidate may not file more than one statement of intention of candidacy for a single office for the same election.
(C) A candidate may not be nominated by more than one political party for a single office for the same election."
C. Section 7-13-320(D) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(D) The names of candidates offering for any other another office shall must be placed in the proper place on the appropriate ballot, stating whether it is a state, congressional, legislative, county, or other office. A candidate's name may not appear on the ballot more than once for any single office for the same election."
D. Section 7-15-220(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(A) The oath, a copy of which is required by Section 7-15-200(2) to be sent each absentee ballot applicant and which is required by Section 7-15-230 to be returned with the absentee ballot applicant's ballot, shall be signed by the absentee ballot applicant and witnessed. The oath shall be in the following form:
'I hereby swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified to vote at this election according to the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, that I have not voted during this election, that the ballot or ballots with which this oath is enclosed is my ballot and that I have received no assistance in voting my ballot that I would not have been entitled to receive had I voted in person at my voting precinct.'
____________________________________
Signature of Voter
Dated on this ______ day of ____________ 20 __
_________________ ___________________
Signature of Witness Printed Name of Witness
____________________
Address of Witness"
E. Section 7-15-380(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(A) The oath, which is required by Section 7-15-370 to be imprinted on the return-addressed envelope, furnished each absentee ballot applicant, must be signed by the absentee ballot applicant and witnessed. The address and printed name of the witness shall appear on the oath. In the event the voter cannot write because of a physical handicap or illiteracy, the voter must make his mark and have the mark witnessed by someone designated by the voter. The oath must be in the following form:
'I hereby swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified to vote at this election according to the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, that I have not voted during this election, that the ballot or ballots contained in this envelope is my ballot and that I have received no assistance in voting my ballot that I would not have been entitled to receive had I voted in person at my voting precinct.'
____________________________________
Signature of Voter
Dated on this ______ day of ____________ 20 ___
_________________ ___________________
Signature of Witness Printed Name of Witness
_________________
Address of Witness"
F. Section 7-15-320 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 7-15-320. (A) Qualified electors in any of the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections when they are absent from their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open, to an extent that it prevents them from voting in person:
(1) students, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;
(2) persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;
(3) governmental employees, their spouses, and dependents residing with them; or
(4) persons on vacation (who by virtue of vacation plans will be absent from their county of residence on election day); or
(5) overseas citizens.
(B) Qualified electors in any of the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections, whether or not they are absent from their county of residence on election day:
(1) physically disabled persons;
(2) persons whose employment obligations require that they be at their place of employment during the hours that the polls are open and present written certification of that obligation to the county board of voter registration and elections;
(3) certified poll watchers, poll managers, county board of voter registration and elections members and staff, county and state election commission members and staff working on election day;
(4) persons attending sick or physically disabled persons;
(5) persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election;
(6) persons with a death or funeral in the family within a three-day period before the election;
(7) persons who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on election day;
(8) persons sixty-five years of age or older;
(9) persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial; or
(10) members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them.
(C) Qualified electors must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections when they are going to be absent from their county of residence for the duration of the early voting period and on election day."
G. Section 7-15-340 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 7-15-340. (A) The application required in Section 7-15-330 to be submitted to these election officials must be in a form prescribed and distributed by the State Election Commission; except that persons listed in Section 7-15-320(2) , (3), (6), and (10) may use Standard Form 76, or any subsequent form replacing it, provided by the federal government as a simultaneous request for registration and an absentee ballot or a request for an absentee ballot if already registered.
(B)(1) The application must contain the following information: name, registration certificate number, address, absentee address, election of ballot request, election date, runoff preference, party preference, reason for request, oath of voter, and voter's signature.
(2) The application also must contain the last four digits of the voter's social security number.
(C) The oath must be as follows: 'I do swear or affirm that I am a qualified elector, that I am entitled to vote in this election, and that I will not vote again during this election. The information above is true in all respects, and I hereby apply for an absentee ballot for the reason indicated above.' Any person who fraudulently applies for an absentee ballot in violation of this section, upon conviction, must be punished in accordance with Section 7-25-20."
H. Section 7-15-385 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 7-15-385. (A) Upon receipt of the ballot or ballots, the absentee ballot applicant must mark each ballot on which he wishes to vote and place each ballot in the single envelope marked 'Ballot Herein' which in turn must be placed in the return-addressed envelope. The applicant must then return the return-addressed envelope to the board of voter registration and elections by mail, by personal delivery, or by authorizing another person to return the envelope for him. The authorization must be given in writing on a form prescribed by the State Election Commission and must be turned in to the board of voter registration and elections at the time the envelope is returned. The voter must sign the form, or in the event the voter cannot write because of a physical handicap or illiteracy, the voter must make his mark and have the mark witnessed by someone designated by the voter. The authorization form pre