COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina House has unanimously passed a bill that expands early voting and tightens up absentee voting by mail. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they made compromises to get the job done.
“It was simply a give and take, and trying to craft a bill that would make the system work better,” explained co-sponsor of the bill Representative Brandon Newton.
The bill includes a two-week early voting period, where polls would be required to stay open Monday through Saturday 8:30 AM to 6 PM. Any registered voter could vote early under this legislation.
Representative Wendy Brawley said opening polls on Saturdays "is going to expand the opportunity for working people to be able to vote, because not everyone can get to a polling place Monday through Friday.”
Brawley added that the original version of the bill cut down the number of early polling places a county could have, but that provision was removed. "It was a very bad bill initially, but with the amendments that were made, I think we ended up with a bill that can help more people than it hurts,” said Brawley.
While the bill passed unanimously, many Democrats still have concerns with parts of the bill. For example, Brawley is against a provision that could require counties to audit five percent of ballots cast.
Brawley argued, “when we add things like an audit after the vote is already in, that has no parameter or time set, then it makes it longer to find out who the actual winners are.”
She hopes the Senate will clean up that part of the bill to set deadlines for audits.
The current state law requires county election boards to audit one precinct. The bill proposes changing that so the percentage of ballots audited is even. Newton explained that small counties would likely not have to change much, while large counties may need to audit more than one precinct to meet the five percent requirement.
“We already audit elections, so every county opens a precinct and they hand count the ballots and they make sure it matches the electronic count,” said Newton.
If the bill becomes law, someone who wishes to vote absentee by mail would need to give the last four digits of their social security number when applying for a ballot. Plus, the bill requires a printed name and address to accompany witness signatures on mail-in ballots.
The State Election Commission told News19 it supports early voting and post-election audits. A spokesperson said if lawmakers want this bill to become law, they hope they do it quickly so the commission has adequate time to prepare ahead of November.
The bill officially passed the House on March 3 and has been assigned to the Senate’s Judiciary Committee.