THIS BILL WOULD AFFECT HOW OUR ELECTIONS ARE RUN!

Please contact your SC representative promptly to urge opposition to H.3444.  (See Talking Points below.)


You can find your representative's contact information by going to scstatehouse.gov --House - Members , selecting your representative, and clicking on her/his name.

If you are not sure who your representative is, then start by going to scstatehouse.gov/Find Your Legislators.]

Calling is much preferred!  A friendly office assistant will answer. Identify yourself as a constituent of the representative and provide your personal perspective on the bill.

Do not use email unless you put CONSTITUENT in the subject line.  Many legislators do not open their emails.  It is more effective to call. 
 

TALKING POINTS

The original version of H.344 would have improved the composition of the SEC by allowing for the inclusion of political independents; however, the bill has been amended in the House Judiciary Committee to establish a strongly partisan SEC, consisting of nine members only three of which would need to be from the minority party.  The bill also significantly expands the power of the SEC to control county election commissions.

The League supports consistency among county election offices with respect to interpreting the requirements of state law. However, this bill is not needed to achieve that. The SEC demonstrated this in 2020 when upon learning of inconsistencies they immediately sent instructions to counties to adhere to their interpretation of the law. Instead, this bill would permit unacceptable partisan control of county commissions, which, after all, exist to allow local decision-making about the on-going administration of election operations. 

PLEASE CALL YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE AND TELL HER OR HIM THAT YOU OPPOSE THIS BILL BECAUSE

1) Consistent interpretation of state law among county election offices is important but this bill is not necessary to ensure that.  (This was demonstrated in 2020 when the SEC quickly and effectively moved to end such inconsistencies when it learned of them.) 

2) As amended, bill H.3444 would create an extremely partisan SEC, clearly designed to be responsive to the needs and wishes of a party rather than to the needs of South Carolina’s diverse electorate.

3) The very partisan SEC created by H.3444 in its current form does not need and should not have the broad powers over county election offices provided by the bill.  

[See LWVSC testimony regarding the original version of H.3444 here, provided on Wednesday, Feb 10, by Lynn Teague to the Election Laws Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.]