Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
April 21, 2022
H. 4919
Introduced by Reps. Lucas, B. Newton, Jordan, Simrill, Pope, Hixon, W. Newton, Erickson, Allison, Bailey, Ballentine, Brittain, Bennett, Blackwell, Burns, Bustos, B. Cox, Crawford, Daning, Elliott, Felder, Forrest, Gagnon, Gatch, Hardee, Hewitt, Hiott, Huggins, J.E. Johnson, Ligon, Long, Magnuson, McCravy, McGarry, V.S. Moss, Murphy, Nutt, Sandifer, G.R. Smith, M.M. Smith, G.M. Smith, West, White, Willis, Yow, Taylor, Whitmire, W. Cox, Hyde, Dabney, May, Jones and Wooten
S. Printed 4/21/22--S. [SEC 4/26/22 11:19 AM]
Read the first time March 3, 2022.
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 7-13-25 SO AS TO ESTABLISH EARLY VOTING IN THE STATE; TO AMEND SECTION 7-11-10, RELATING TO METHODS OF NOMINATING CANDIDATES, SO AS TO PROHIBIT CANDIDATES FROM FILING MORE THAN ONE STATEMENT OF INTENTION OF CANDIDACY FOR A SINGLE ELECTION, AND TO PROHIBIT CANDIDATES FROM BEING NOMINATED BY MORE THAN ONE POLITICAL PARTY FOR A SINGLE OFFICE IN AN ELECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 7-13-320, RELATING TO BALLOTS AND SPECIFICATIONS, SO AS TO PROHIBIT CANDIDATES' NAMES FROM APPEARING ON THE BALLOT MORE THAN ONCE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 7-15-220 AND 7-15-380, BOTH RELATING TO ABSENTEE BALLOT OATHS, BOTH SO AS TO REQUIRE THE PRINTED NAME OF THE WITNESS IN ADDITION TO THE REQUIRED SIGNATURE AND ADDRESS; TO AMEND SECTION 7-15-320, RELATING TO PERSONS QUALIFIED TO VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT, SO AS TO DELETE CERTAIN REASONS FOR WHICH ABSENTEE VOTING IS ALLOWED AND ADD A NEW REASON FOR PERSONS WHO ARE GOING TO BE ABSENT FROM THE COUNTY FOR THE DURATION OF THE EARLY VOTING PERIOD AND ELECTION DAY; TO AMEND SECTION 7-15-340, RELATING TO THE FORM OF AN ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION, SO AS TO REQUIRE THE VOTER'S DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBER OR OTHER PERSONAL OR UNIQUE IDENTIFYING NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH A GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO IDENTIFICATION; TO AMEND SECTION 7-15-385, RELATING TO THE MARKING AND RETURN OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS, SO AS TO REQUIRE AN AUTHORIZED RETURNEE TO PRODUCE A CURRENT AND VALID FORM OF GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO IDENTIFICATION; TO AMEND SECTION 7-15-420, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE RECEIPT, TABULATION, AND REPORTING OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS, SO AS TO ALLOW THE EXAMINATION OF RETURN-ADDRESSED ENVELOPES TO BEGIN AT 7:00 A.M. ON THE SUNDAY PRECEDING ELECTION DAY, TO ALLOW THE TABULATION OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS TO BEGIN AT 7:00 A.M. ON THE CALENDAR DAY IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING ELECTION DAY, AND TO CREATE A PENALTY FOR PUBLIC REPORTING OF THE RESULTS OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS BEFORE THE POLLS ARE CLOSED; BY ADDING SECTION 7-15-325 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT ANY VOTER WHO IS DESIGNATED AS HAVING PREVIOUSLY VOTED ABSENTEE MAY CAST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT ON ELECTION DAY TO BE COUNTED ONLY IF THE VOTER'S ABSENTEE BALLOT IS NOT RECEIVED; AND TO REPEAL SECTION 7-15-470 RELATING TO IN-PERSON ABSENTEE VOTING.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 13, Title 7 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 7-13-25. (A) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter or Chapter 5 of this title, the authority charged by law with conducting an election shall establish a procedure by which a qualified elector may cast his ballot, without excuse, during an early voting period for all elections. The qualified elector may cast a ballot during an early voting period pursuant to this section.
(B) Early voting centers must be established and maintained to ensure that voters may cast only one ballot.
(C) A qualified elector may cast his ballot at an early voting center in the county in which he resides.
(D) Each county board of voter registration and elections must establish at least one early voting center and may establish up to seven early voting centers. Each early voting center must be supervised by employees of the county board of voter registration and elections or the State Election Commission.
(E) The early voting period shall be from Monday through Saturday for the two-week period immediately preceding an election.
(F) The county board of voter registration and elections shall provide the hours of operation for the early voting center or centers in accordance with the following:
(1) for statewide general elections, the early voting centers must be open from 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on each day of the early voting period;
(2) for any election that is not a statewide general election or primary runoff election, the early voting centers must be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. during the early voting period;
(3) for any primary runoff election, the early voting centers must be open on the Wednesday through Friday immediately preceding the election and must be open from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.; and
(4) for any election, the early voting centers must not be open on Sundays.
(G)(1) Each county board of voter registration and elections must determine locations for its early voting centers. In selecting locations for early voting centers, the county board of voter registration and elections must consider geography, population, and ADA compliant accessibility. The county board of voter registration and elections must distribute the locations throughout the county to maximize accessibility for all voters in the county to the greatest extent possible.
(2) Each county board of voter registration and elections must identify locations it intends to utilize as early voting centers for a statewide primary and a statewide general election by March 10 before that primary election.
(3) The Executive Director of the State Election Commission must approve the addition or relocation of early voting centers after March 10, and may, at his discretion, direct the move of early voting centers to ensure proper distribution throughout each county.
(H) The county board of voter registration and elections must publish the location and hours of each early 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 board of voter registration and elections.
(I) Each early voting center must have available every ballot style in use in the particular county for that election.
(J) Upon the daily closure of each early voting center, all ballots must be transported to the county board of voter registration and elections and stored in a secure location.
(K) A sign must be posted prominently in each early voting center and shall have printed on it: 'VOTING MORE THAN ONCE IS A FELONY AND, UPON CONVICTION, A PERSON MUST BE FINED NOT LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS NOR MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS AND IMPRISONED NOT MORE THAN FIVE YEARS'.
(L) The provisions of this section do not apply to presidential preference primaries held pursuant to Section 7-11-20."
SECTION 2. A. 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 must 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 must not file more than one statement of intention of candidacy for a single office for the same election.
(C) A candidate must not be nominated by more than one political party for a single office for the same election."
B. 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 must not appear on the ballot more than once for any single office for the same election."
SECTION 3. 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 by a person who is at least eighteen years of age. 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"
SECTION 4. 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 who are unable to vote during early voting hours for the duration of the early voting period, and during the hours the polls are open on election day, must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections an election 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) persons with employment obligations who present written certification of the obligations to the county board of voter registration and elections students, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;
(2) persons who will be attending sick or physically disabled 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) persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial governmental employees, their spouses, and dependents residing with them; or
(4) persons who are going to be absent from their county of residence 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 the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in an election, regardless of whether the elector is able to vote during early voting hours for the duration of the early voting period, and during the hours the polls are open all elections, whether or not they are absent from their county of residence on election day:
(1) physically disabled persons;
(2) persons sixty-five years of age or older 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) members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them 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; or
(4) 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, as provided in Section 7-15-330;
(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.
SECTION 5. Section 7-15-330 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 133 of 2020, reads:
"Section 7-15-330. (A) To vote by absentee ballot,:
(1) a qualified elector or a member of his immediate family, as defined in Section 7-15-310(8) , must request an application to vote by absentee ballot in person, by telephone, or by mail from the county board of voter registration and elections, or at an extension office of the county board of voter registration and elections as established by the county governing body, for the county of the voter's residence. ;or
(2) A person requesting an application for a qualified elector as the qualified elector's authorized representative must request an application to vote by absentee ballot in person or by mail only and must himself be a registered voter and must sign an oath to the effect that he fits the statutory definition of an authorized representative. This The signed oath must be kept on file with the county board of voter registration and elections until the end of the calendar year or until all contests concerning a particular election have been finally determined, whichever is later. A candidate, or a member of a candidate's paid campaign staff, or a including campaign volunteer volunteers reimbursed for time expended on campaign activity, is not allowed to request applications for absentee voting for any person designated in this section unless the person is a member of the immediate family.
(B)(1) A request for an application to vote by absentee ballot may be made anytime during the calendar year in which the election in which the qualified elector desires to be permitted to vote by absentee ballot is being held.
(2) A person who makes a request for an application to vote by absentee ballot, either for himself or on behalf of another elector as permitted by this section, must provide the following:
(a) for the elector for whom the request is being made, the elector's:
(i) name;
(ii) date of birth; and
(iii) last four digits of his social security number; and
(b) if someone is making a request on behalf of an elector, the requestor's:
(i) name;
(ii) address;
(iii) date of birth; and
(iv) relation to the elector, as required by subsection (A).
(3) The county board of voter registration and elections must verify the information required in this section for the elector for whom the absentee ballot is being requested, and must record the information provided for the individual who makes a request on behalf of an elector before providing an absentee ballot application.
(4) A person must not request absentee applications for more than five qualified electors per election, in addition to himself.
(C) However, completed Completed applications must be returned to the county board of voter registration and elections:
in person, by either the elector, a member of the elector's immediate family, or the elector's authorized representative, or by mail, by the elector, to the county board of voter registration and elections no later than before 5:00 p.m. on the fourth eleventh day before the day of the election to vote by absentee ballot. Applications must be accepted by t