South Carolina Judge Declines to Reopen Voter Registration for Teens Impacted by DMV Glitch Amid Record-Breaking Early Voting Turnout and New Allegations of Ballot Harvesting
In a ruling affecting nearly 1,900 teens, a South Carolina judge declined Friday to reopen voter registration following a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) error that prevented eligible teens from being added to the voting rolls. These teens, who had checked a box to register at the DMV while obtaining their driver’s licenses, were not flagged as eligible due to a computer glitch that omitted an essential citizenship verification step.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit earlier in the week, proposing several remedies to ensure these teens could vote. However, Judge Daniel Coble ruled that altering the voter rolls this close to Election Day could lead to “disorder in the voting system,” siding with the South Carolina Election Commission, the DMV, and state officials who argued that changes would be disruptive given that early voting had already begun.
Adding to election-season controversy, the South Carolina Republican Party recently reported an alleged Democratic ballot harvesting operation in Marion County. The GOP discovered that a paid Democratic staffer and 15 other voters were registered at a vacant address, while in one precinct, absentee ballots spiked by 844 from February to June. State law prohibits returning more than five absentee ballots per person, excluding one’s own. The GOP shared its findings with South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, requesting an immediate investigation. “Ballot harvesting is a felony in South Carolina, plain and simple,” stated GOP Chairman Drew McKissick. “Clearly what’s happening in Marion County does not pass the smell test.”
But as questions swirl around registration, the bigger question may be what the GOP is so concerned about. The last time South Carolina voted for a Democrat for president was in 1976, when the state supported Jimmy Carter. Carter, a former governor of neighboring Georgia, had strong appeal in the South, which helped him secure South Carolina’s electoral votes. Since then, South Carolina has consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates, maintaining a conservative stronghold in presidential elections.
South Carolina currently has 9 electoral votes in presidential elections. This total is based on the state’s 7 congressional districts plus its 2 U.S. Senate seats.
This ruling and the ballot harvesting allegations come as South Carolina voters set a new record for ballots cast in a single day during early voting on Tuesday, surpassing the previous record set just the day before. According to the South Carolina State Election Commission, 127,792 voters turned out on Tuesday, with 126,700 voting on Monday. In just two days, over 254,000 voters have cast ballots, more than half the total early votes cast in the 2022 election, with more than a week left in the early voting period.
With these developments, the DMV and state officials have vowed to prevent future registration errors, aiming to uphold “free, fair, safe, and secure elections” across the state.
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