COLUMBIA, S.C. — A judge has denied a motion for a temporary injunction in a lawsuit over a voter registration issue.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Carolina, the lawsuit alleges that the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) voter registration system has failed to allow thousands of eligible teens to finalize their registration in recent months.
While the judge denied the temporary injunction, meaning no action will be taken before next month's election, the judge hasn't ruled on the permanent injunction. If granted, it would require the SCDMV to change the software moving forward to register voters' age range.
In his ruling, Judge Daniel Coble said there is "no effectual relief that this Court could grant, and even if it attempted to, the relief sought would create disorder in the voting system," concurring with the arguments made by the State Election Commission, one of the Defendants.
The lawsuit came earlier this week after one teenager brought his issue at the SCDMV to the ACLU's attention. Under federal law, the SCDMV must provide all eligible registrants the opportunity to register to vote when they go to get or renew a license. State statute also says if you are 17 but going to turn 18 by the next election, you are eligible to go ahead and register to vote. But people in this age range who went to get a license don't pass through the SCDMV's software, according to the lawsuit, which means they don't get a chance to fill out the voter attestation form and their names are not passed along to the Election Commission.
ACLU-SC Legal Director Allen Chaney said teens who go to get their license and check off the box often leave unaware that they are not registered to vote.
"Our government failed these young voters, and now the same government is making excuses rather than making things right. When 'It's too hard to fix' becomes an acceptable reason to disenfranchise voters, we know that there's work to do," said Chaney in response to the ruling.
The SCDMV argued that these people often are aware that they aren't able to register. They cited that of the 17,114 that the SCDMV identified in that age range, which the issue could have impacted, 6,280 went online or in-person to register to vote. They say that's evidence that many affected individuals were given proper notice and couldn't register through the SCDMV's system.
"I can't stand here and say that it happened in every single instance, but we understand that the SCDMV told these individuals that, well, you can't this isn't letting you go any far further, but you can go and you can register online, or you can go to your county boards," said Michael Burchstead, the lawyer representing the State Election Commission.
The governor and the South Carolina GOP both filed motions to intervene in support of the Election Commission, saying that granting any relief would harm the integrity of the election and violate state law. Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee and Speaker of the House Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, also filed similar motions.
"When you start changing systemic things and the run-up to an election, the likelihood of mistakes increases and the lack of public confidence increases," said Grayson Lambert, a lawyer for Governor McMaster. "The lack of public confidence increases because people don't trust that the rules aren't being changed midstream."