12 March 2025

The South Carolina General Assembly is at a halfway point for the 2025 session. For the House, this has been Budget Week, an annual marathon that begins on Monday morning and runs into the night. This year the budget was approved by a third reading vote shortly after 12:01 AM on Wednesday. The House then adjourned for the week. The Senate has been largely occupied with tort reform on the floor. 

Election Bill Status

Several election bills have been considered in House subcommittees recently.

H.3556

This bill would govern treatment of local government primary protests by the State Executive Committee of each party. It has not yet been forwarded to the House calendar from the Judiciary Committee.

H.3557

This bill addresses filing fees and certification fees for candidates. It has not yet been forwarded to the House calendar by the Judiciary Committee.

H.3459

H.3459 would require third-party organizations involved in voter registration to register with the State Election Commission. The bill would also require timely submission of paper registrations to the county board of voter registration and elections (within 10 days). Testimony was heard from several organizations in the Constitutional Laws Subcommittee (Con Laws) of the House Judiciary Committee on February 20. All agreed that the bill could have a chilling effect on voter outreach. While the requirements are not very demanding for organizations that routinely conduct registration drives, like the League of Women Voters, the bill could be an impediment to smaller-scale groups involved in church or school registration. Also, the bill does not require a fee for registration, but agencies routinely charge fees when presented with unfunded mandates like this one, and fees would add to the chilling effect of the bill. No vote was taken on this bill on February 20. It may reappear on a future Con Laws agenda for further consideration and a vote.

S.36

S.36 would modify provisions for establishing polling places, including numbers of registered electors and notice to electors of persons whose registration is transferred. It remains in Senate Judiciary Committee.

S.37

S.37 addresses municipal elections, following on the last-minute failure in the 2024 session of a bill to standardize dates and reform processes associated with municipal elections. It remains in Senate Judiciary Committee.

S.38

S.38 would standardize the dates of special elections including primaries and runoffs. It has passed third reading in the Senate and has been forwarded to the House, where it has been assigned to the Committee on Judiciary.

State Election Commission Poll

The State Election Commission (SEC) generally does a good job, often under difficult conditions. However, now and then they fall short. The SEC has put out a press release that misrepresents a poll that they conducted. It claims to show that “South Carolinians overwhelmingly trust the state’s election process and express high satisfaction with their polling place experiences.” 

However, the study only surveyed “504 registered South Carolina voters who participated in the November 5, 2024, Presidential Election.” They surveyed ONLY those who had successfully registered and voted, to ask questions about whether there were significant difficulties in registering and voting. They did NOT poll from the larger pool of all eligible voters, including those who might have experienced problems that impaired their ability to vote. The League of Women Voters believes that our elections have integrity, and we appreciate the efforts of election workers that go into making registration and voting possible. However, this poll was not designed to permit generalizing about “South Carolinians.” 

The press release:

New Survey Shows Strong Voter Confidence in South Carolina Elections

Columbia, SC (March 10, 2025)– The South Carolina State Election Commission (SEC) has released findings from its latest voter survey conducted after the November 2024 General Election. The results show that South Carolinians overwhelmingly trust the state’s election process and express high satisfaction with their polling place experiences.

The study, conducted between November 26 and December 10, surveyed 504 registered South Carolina voters who participated in the November 5, 2024, Presidential Election. The findings indicate growing confidence in election integrity, particularly among early in-person voters.

Key Findings Include:

• Registering to Vote is Easy – 98% of respondents found voter registration easy, with 75% saying it was “very easy.”
• High Confidence in Election Integrity – 93% of voters trust the accuracy of elections in South Carolina, a 6% increase since June 2024 and 8% higher than confidence in elections nationwide.
• Positive Polling Place Experiences – 97% of in-person voters found polling places clean and safe, 94% said they were well-organized, and 92% felt they were properly staffed. Compared to prior studies, satisfaction with election operations has risen 11% since June 2024 and 20% since 2022.

‘These results highlight the dedication of our local election officials and poll workers, as well as the strong election framework established by the Governor and General Assembly,’ said Howie Knapp, Executive Director of the SEC. ‘Ensuring secure, accessible, and transparent elections remains our top priority, and we are encouraged by the trust South Carolina voters have placed in the process.’

The positive findings follow the implementation of Act 150 of 2022, which introduced significant changes to South Carolina’s voting process, including the establishment of early voting and adjustments to absentee voting procedures. The 2024 elections marked the first presidential election cycle in which these changes were implemented.”