As noted in our earlier email, House Judiciary Constitutional Laws Subcommittee (“Con Laws”) has posted an array of voting bills to be heard this coming Thursday, January 25, at 9:00 AM in Room 516 of the Blatt Building.

The agenda is available at https://www.scstatehouse.gov/agendas/125h13710.pdf.

Further information on the bills:

• H.4589, Municipal Election Protests (Murrell Smith)
• Eliminates holdovers in municipal positions pending final determination of elections, 
• Instructs courts to give first priority to resolution of appeals.
• The League of Women Voters supports this bill.
• H.4590, Early Voting Hours (Murrell Smith)
• Extends Early Voting to 7 PM, providing better opportunities to access in-person early voting, 
• The League of Women Voters supports this bill.
• H. 4022, Instant Runoff Voting [Municipal Elections] (J. L. Johnson)
• Municipalities can choose their voting method from the following:
  • Nonpartisan plurality method, §5-15-61
  • Nonpartisan election and runoff election method, §5-15-62
  • Nonpartisan primary election and general election method §5-15-63
  • Instant runoff voting method §5-15-64, 
• Electors rank candidates in order of preference,
• A generally accepted method for calculation of winners from rank order data is provided,
• The League of Women Voters supports this bill.
• H.4259, Hand Count Audit Act (Harris)
• This bill would allow party officials to demand full hand counts of all ballots from a designated county,
• Respected non-partisan groups reject this method of election verification, and are generally in favor of risk limiting audits as the gold standard in election verification,
• Hand counts of all ballots from a county would represent a significant administrative burden on counties, at very substantial cost,
• The League of Women Voters opposes this bill.
• H.4260, Voter Access and Transparency Act (Harris)
• Removes age 65+ excuse for voting by mail,
• Defines restrictions on voting in vehicle by persons with disabilities and requires oath of compliance with those restrictions,
• Would allow any citizen to observe all voting processes, at any point in the process, with the single restraint that a distance of 5 feet must be maintained from voters, potentially exposing voters to loss of privacy and to harassment,
• Repeals Early Voting as specified in §7-13-25,
• Removes all references to early voting in §7-15-320,
• The League of Women Voters opposes this bill. 
• H.4261, Clean Voter Roll Act (Harris)
• Would transfer responsibility for maintenance of voter rolls from the State Election Commission to county election commissions. Counties would be required to carry out all specified roll maintenance including identification and removal of deceased and non-resident persons, without access to the much more extensive resources of the SEC,
• Requires that a substantial and complex body of data be provided to any qualified elector at no cost,
• Requires “proof of citizenship verification” and “signature verification,” neither of which is currently required or permitted under state law, 
• Would impose a tremendous administrative burden on counties, one that they have no current capacity to meet,
• The League of Women Voters of South Carolina opposes this bill. 
• H. 4591, Ranked Choice Voting Ban (Taylor)
  • Would prohibit use of Instant Runoff Voting or Ranked Choice Voting in all South Carolina elections,
  • The League of Women Voters opposes this bill.

We hope that everyone concerned about our elections will review these bills and plan to testify. Testimony can be offered in writing (HjudConstitutionalLaws [at] schouse.gov) or in person.