COLUMBIA, S.C. — Voters will see a question on their ballot this upcoming November. Monday, the Constitutional Ballot Commission met to approve language changes to South Carolina state’s constitution.
“It's basically just an extra safeguard to confine elections and to confine voters in elections in South Carolina to only citizens of this state at any level local state or federal,”
South Carolina Attorney General, Alan Wilson, says the commission voted to change language used in the state’s constitution when it comes to voter qualifications.
“The South Carolina Constitution says, and I'm paraphrasing, every person who is a citizen of the United States or of this state and has met all the other requirements, meaning you're 18 years of age or older and you're a resident is entitled to vote in the state of South Carolina. They changed what they swapped out the word every citizen to include only a citizen of the united states who is of 18 years of age and a resident is able to vote. so basically, it's went from every citizen to only a citizen,”
Attorney General Wilson says this new language will solidify voter qualifications in the state.
“You could have a situation and this is what advocates have claimed, where a person can vote in a municipal election who may not be a citizen, and they may try to vote in the municipal election. This basically confines and constricts people who are voting in any election in the state of South Carolina,” he said.
South Carolina voters will now decide if it is written into state law.
“This is literally a question to voters. Do you want to adopt this new amendment into the South Carolina constitution or do you not want to, so on the ballot it is posed as a question to voters,” John Michael Catalano with the state's election commission, said.
According to the South Carolina Election Commission, the question on voters ballots will read “Must Section 4, Article II of the Constitution of this State, relating to voter qualifications, be amended so as to provide that only a citizen of the united states and of this state of the age of eighteen and upwards who is properly registered is entitled to vote as provided by law?”
Catalano says because this is already law in South Carolina, this new amendment will have no major impacts if passed into law.
“It’s not going to impact the day to day of election officials or even voters or citizens in this state, but it will provide extra clarity and emphasis that this is a requirement for South Carolina,” he said.
The general election will be on November 5th and this amendment will appear on all ballots in the state.