Early voting for all now in SC
By Lynn Teague
VP, Issues and Action, LWVSC
The State Election Commission (SEC) has announced Act 165 changes in place for June primaries at Early Voting Now in Effect for June Primaries.
Changes have not been made consistently throughout the SEC website, so this page should be considered accurate when there are conflicts within www.scvotes.gov or with county websites. Everyone is doubtless scrambling to make changes.
The major changes in in-person voters affecting voters now:
Excused absentee in-person voting is no longer authorized in SC law.
No-excuse in-person voting will begin on Tuesday, May 31, and continue through Friday, June 10. Early voting locations will be closed Saturday and Sunday, June 4-5.
Early voting locations will include county election offices. Additional locations will be posted by all counties to www.scvotes.gov by May 24.
Early voting for June Runoffs will be held Wednesday, June 22 through Friday, June 24, at the same hours and locations as the primaries.
“Excused absentee voting by mail will be open to all voters with disabilities, those 65 or over, members of the Armed Forces and their families residing with them, and voters admitted to the hospital on an emergency basis within four days of Election Day. ”
Excused absentee voting by mail will be open to all voters with disabilities, those 65 or over, members of the Armed Forces and their families residing with them, and voters admitted to the hospital on an emergency basis within four days of Election Day.
Others who may vote by mail are those who are unable to vote in person during both the two-week early in-person voting period and Election Day due to employment, caretaking responsibilities, incarceration, or other absence from the county of primary residence.
SEC indicates that new witness requirements for mail absentee ballots will not go into effect until the General Election in November. (Ballot materials are doubtless already at the printers.)
In November, and even now, we encourage voters who can do so to use the in-person early voting option, which presents far fewer opportunities for technical defects in applications or ballots, or just slow USPS, to lead to an inability to vote or a ballot that isn’t counted. (Legislators declined to require notice-and-cure so that voters could correct technical defects.)
Please read the SCVotes announcement at https://www.scvotes.gov/early-voting-now-effect-june-primariesfor more details.
Anyone with questions about other provisions of the new legislation should consult the final version of Act 165 at https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/108.htm.
Also, stay tuned for SEC announcements regarding public input into regulations to be developed under the new law. The new law requires regulations that will dictate consistency between county election offices and also regulate our organizations involved in voter services. It is a very important provision of South Carolina law that regulations must be developed with public input!