COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – South Carolina senators on Wednesday passed a bill that would end the mandates of the five members of the state electoral commission, compel the state’s electoral director to resign and allow the Senate to approve whoever took office. these positions.
Senate majority leader Shane Massey said the goal is to make the Electoral Commission like the state council on health and the environment, where senators have an active voice on who runs the council and the agency. The Senate can also confirm or reject various nominations for the governor’s office.
“If there is no such direct and continuous oversight, they do things that they would not have done otherwise,” said Massey, an Republican from Edgefield.
A spokesman for the governor called for the takeover project that would invite political interference in the elections.
In the wake of the 2020 elections, there is skepticism about any changes in the way the elections are held and, specifically, any changes in an agency that was structured to be independent when it was created more than 50 years ago.
“Perhaps that was the original reason – to keep legislative influence out of the process that elects the people who serve in this General Assembly,” said Sen. Nikki Setzler, a Democrat from West Columbia.
The bill was passed by 37-7 with only the opposition of the Democrats. He needs a routine vote before being sent to the House next week.
If the bill becomes law, the five members of the State Election Bureau would be expelled. The governor could reappoint them, but they would have to be approved by the Senate. The new council would choose an executive director, who would also need Senate approval.
It remains to be seen whether the House would allow the Senate to expand its power. The House passed its own electoral reform law this would require uniform rules for all 46 counties. Some counties check voters’ signatures on absentee ballots and others do not. Some give absentee voters a chance to correct their ballots if they do not follow the exact rules, such as forgetting to sign it.
The Senate bill does not contain this provision. Massey said he would consider this as the two notes work in the other chamber.
Republican Governor Henry McMaster prefers the House bill because it ensures that elections in South Carolina are “conducted efficiently, fairly and legally,” said spokesman Brian Symmes.
“The Senate bill categorically ignores the problem and calls for unnecessary and unjustified foreign political interference. This is not reform, it is a seizure of power. And you can’t start, ”said Symmes in a statement.
Other proposals that would make major changes to electoral laws have not been considered in South Carolina this year.
State Electoral Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said the agency is not taking a position on the Senate bill.
Some senators asked Massey if his support for the project was motivated by problems with the director of the electoral commission, Marci Andino, who has run the agency for 18 years.
Massey and other Senate and House leaders were unhappy that Andino did not tell them last year about the lawsuits over access to voting and the process in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senate bill would explicitly allow legislative leaders to intervene in lawsuits.
Andino received high praise from several state leaders about the ease with which the vote took place in the primary and general elections during the pandemic.
Massey insisted several times that his problems were procedural about who would approve the leadership of a state agency and not a personality problem. He said he would consider Andino if his account is approved and a new board wants it to stay.
“I had concerns about her,” said Massey. “You go through the process and see what happens.”
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