COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – The South Carolina House passed a bill on Wednesday that would require counties across the state to follow the same rules for elections.
Before the 84-36 vote mainly on party lines, representatives agreed to remove part of the bill this would have added four additional members to the commission that oversees the elections, which would likely mean that Republicans would represent two-thirds of the nine-member council, since they are the ruling party.
This expansion of the independent State Electoral Commission, unchanged since its creation more than 50 years ago, was a critical point and members of the Chamber agreed that it would be a debate for another day, instead of hindering the effort to define the commission and apply uniform rules on how votes are cast and absentee ballots counted across South Carolina.
But several African-American lawmakers questioned why the changes needed to be made after an election that Republican leaders agreed to have occurred with few problems, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Why is voting so big a problem now?” asked Democratic Representative Michael Rivers of St. Helena Island. “It looks like we are looking for a problem to try to solve.”
There were other bills introduced in this session to amend South Carolina’s electoral laws. A proposal would require some proof of identity for voters who voted absently and for people who signed as witnesses. Another bill would remove the ongoing elections from the State Electoral Commission to the post of elected Secretary of State, as is done in other states. But bigger changes like this and broader changes in voting laws suggested in other states governed by Republicans have not been discussed in South Carolina.
South Carolina Republicans had a good election in 2020, winning two seats in the House and three in the Senate, which gave them the biggest margins in the General Assembly of modern times.
The bill needs a routine vote before it is sent to the Senate.
Governor Henry McMaster wrote a letter to lawmakers on Monday, asking them to approve it. In his letter, he mainly mentioned the need for consistency across the state. Only one sentence mentioned the expansion of the Electoral Commission.
Some counties check voters’ signatures absentee votes and some not. And only a few give absent voters a chance to correct their ballots if they don’t follow the exact rules, like forgetting to sign it, Republican leaders said.
“We learned that some counties were using a mix of different and inconsistent processes. Our state’s electoral laws must be applied fairly and consistently across the state, ”wrote McMaster.
Republican Representative Jay Jordan of Florence joined Democratic Representative Russel Ott of St. Matthews to remove the move to the State Election Commission from the bill.
“I am sure that we will continue to discuss what changes to the Electoral Commission make sense,” said Ott.
Jordan said the purpose of the bill was “to take a step towards making the good better”.
Democratic MP Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg said that what is really needed is a comprehensive overhaul of the entire electoral system and probably extra money for county election offices to make sure things are done the right way.
“How do you make the good better if you don’t know what is best?” Cobb-Hunter said.
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.