On January 21, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee will consider four bills. S. 35 would propose a constitutional amendment that would delete the Comptroller General from the list of constitutional officers. S.36 would modify provisions for establishing polling places, including numbers of registered electors and notice to electors of persons whose registration is transferred. S.37 addresses municipal elections, following on the last-minute failure in the 2024 session of a bill to standardize dates and reform processes. S.38 would standardize the special election dates, including primaries and runoffs.

The Statehouse Report

Statehouse handicappers say 2025 may be the year that lawmakers require South Carolinians to declare allegiance to one political party or the other when they register to vote, a long-time wishlist item for many GOP legislators. But Lynn Teague, vice president of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of South Carolina, says a switch would not be in the interests of nonpartisan voters. “The League opposes both bills,” Teague said in a Jan. 9 statement. “Although either would be acceptable if all unaffiliated voters could vote in any primary, without further conditions.”

Bills have been prefiled and next Tuesday the South Carolina General Assembly will return for the 2025 session. As usual, there are issues and bills that relate to our ability to make democracy work in South Carolina.

This opinion was originally published in the Savannah Morning News.

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