1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 119th Session, 2011-2012 3 4 H. 3110 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. G.R. Smith, Thayer, Hamilton, Long, Clemmons, Erickson, Herbkersman, Patrick, 10 Southard, Henderson, Ryan, Corbin, Loftis, Bedingfield, Nanney, J.R. Smith, Taylor, Putnam, Hearn, 11 Bowen, Hixon, Daning, Sottile, Norman, Harrell and Bannister 12 Document Path: l:\council\bills\agm\18143ab11.docx 13 Companion/Similar bill(s): 638 14 15 Introduced in the House on January 11, 2011 16 Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary 17 18 Summary: Voting 19 20 21 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 22 23 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 24 12/7/2010 House Prefiled 25 12/7/2010 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary 26 1/11/2011 House Introduced and read first time ( House Journalpage 48) 27 1/11/2011 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary ( House Journalpage 49) 28 1/12/2011 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Long 29 3/6/2012 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Clemmons 30 3/7/2012 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Erickson, Herbkersman, Patrick, 31 Southard, Henderson, Ryan, Corbin, Loftis, Bedingfield, Nanney, J.R.Smith, 32 Taylor, Putnam, Hearn, Bowen, Hixon, Daning, Sottile, Norman, Harrell 33 3/27/2012 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Bannister 34 35 36 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 37 38 12/7/2010 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 75110, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH 12 CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE REQUIREMENT OF 13 REGISTRATION IN ORDER TO VOTE, SO AS TO PROVIDE 14 THAT A PERSON IS NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE IN A 15 PARTISAN PRIMARY ELECTION OR PARTISAN 16 ADVISORY REFERENDUM UNLESS THE PERSON HAS 17 REGISTERED AS BEING A MEMBER OF THAT PARTY; TO 18 AMEND SECTION 75170, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO 19 THE REQUIREMENTS FOR VOTER REGISTRATION, SO AS 20 TO PROVIDE THE REQUIREMENT OF STATING 21 POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION, IF ANY, ON THE FORM 22 AND INCLUDING IT IN THE OATH; AND REQUIRE THE 23 STATE ELECTION COMMISSION TO ASSIST IN 24 CAPTURING THIS DATA; AND TO AMEND SECTION 7920, 25 RELATING TO THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR VOTING IN 26 PRIMARY ELECTIONS, SO AS TO INCLUDE, AS A 27 REQUIREMENT, REGISTERING AS A MEMBER OF THE 28 PARTY AND TO PROVIDE A PROCEDURE FOR CHANGING 29 POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION OR NONAFFILIATION 30 AFTER A SELECTION HAS BEEN MADE. 31 32 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 33 Carolina: 34 35 SECTION 1. Section 75110 of the 1976 Code is amended to read: 36 37 “Section 75110. (A) No A person shall be allowed to may not 38 vote at any election unless he shall be is registered as herein 39 required by the provisions of this chapter. 40 (B) A person may not vote in a partisan primary election or 41 partisan advisory referendum unless he has registered as being a 42 member of that party.

[3110] 2 1 (C) The provisions of this section do not apply to a partisan 2 presidential preference primary. 3 (D) The State Election Commission shall assist the county 4 entities charged by law with registering electors with capturing the 5 data and maintaining a list of all electors registered by party 6 affiliation. To expedite the registration of electors, the county 7 entities shall allow electors to register by party, if they wish, at all 8 partisan primary elections conducted before June 2012. 9 (E) After the first primary is conducted under the provisions of 10 this section, the entity charged by law with registering qualified 11 electors shall contact the qualified electors of that county, by 12 whatever method it determines to be appropriate, informing them 13 of partisan primary voting procedures as provided in this section. 14 (F) The State Election Commission shall provide a format for 15 absentee voting registration to comply with the provisions of this 16 section.” 17 18 SECTION 2. Section 75170 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by 19 Act 239 of 2004, is further amended to read: 20 21 “Section 75170. (1) Written application required. No A 22 person may not be registered to vote except upon written 23 application which shall become that becomes a part of the 24 permanent records of the board to which it is presented and which 25 must be open to public inspection. However, the social security 26 number contained in the application as required by this section 27 must not be open to public inspection. 28 (2) Form of application. The application must be on a form 29 prescribed and provided by the executive director and shall must 30 contain the following information: name, sex, race, social security 31 number, date of birth, residence address, mailing address, 32 telephone number of the applicant, political party affiliation, if 33 any, and location of prior voter registration. The applicant must 34 shall affirm that he is not under a court order declaring him 35 mentally incompetent, confined in any public prison, has never 36 been convicted of a felony or offense against the election laws, or 37 if previously convicted that he has served his entire sentence, 38 including probation and parole time, or has received a pardon for 39 the conviction. Additionally, the applicant must shall take the 40 following oath: ‘I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am a 41 citizen of the United States and that on the date of the next ensuing 42 election, I will have attained the age of eighteen years and am a 43 resident of South Carolina, this county, and of my precinct. I

[3110] 3 1 further swear (or affirm) that I am a member of the …… political 2 party. I further swear (or affirm) that the present residence address 3 listed herein is my sole legal place of residence and that I claim no 4 other place as my legal residence.’ Any applicant convicted of 5 fraudulently applying for registration is guilty of perjury and is 6 subject to the penalty for that offense. 7 (3) Administration of oaths. Any A member of the registration 8 board, deputy registrar, or any a registration clerk must be 9 qualified to administer oaths in connection with the application. 10 (4) Decisions on applications. Any A member of the 11 registration board, deputy registrar, or registration clerk may pass 12 on the qualifications of the prospective voter. In case of a question 13 of an applicant being refused registration, at least one member of 14 the board shall pass on the qualifications of the voter. A concise 15 statement of the reasons for the refusal must be written on the 16 application.” 17 18 SECTION 3. Section 7920 of the 1976 Code is amended to read: 19 20 “Section 7920. (A) The qualifications for membership in a 21 certified party and for voting at a party primary election include 22 the following: 23 (1) the applicant for membership, or voter, must be at least 24 eighteen years of age or become so before the succeeding general 25 election,; and 26 (2) must be a registered elector, and a citizen of the United 27 States, and of this State.; and 28 (3) has registered as a member of the certified party. 29 (B) No A person may not belong to any a party club or vote in 30 any a primary unless he is a registered elector and a member of 31 that party. The state convention of any political party, 32 organization, or association in this State may add by party rules to 33 the qualifications for membership in the party, organization, or 34 association and for voting at the primary elections if such the 35 qualifications do not conflict with the provisions of this section or 36 with the Constitution and laws of this State or of the United States. 37 (C) The entity charged by law with conducting a primary shall 38 allow an elector to change his political party affiliation by 39 executing an affidavit not later than thirty days before the primary. 40 During that time, an elector may execute an affidavit declaring that 41 he desires not to be affiliated with a political party. The affiliation 42 with a political party or as a nonpartisan is valid until changed by 43 the qualified elector pursuant to the provisions of this section.

[3110] 4 1 (D) When a qualified elector presents himself at a polling place 2 to vote in a primary election, the entity charged by law with 3 conducting the election or its representative shall require the 4 qualified elector to sign an affidavit affirming that he is a member 5 of the party conducting the primary. If the qualified elector does 6 not sign this affidavit, he is declared to be nonpartisan and he may 7 not vote in a partisan primary election.” 8 9 SECTION 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of this act, in all 10 primaries conducted before June 2012, an elector is permitted to 11 vote if he has not signed the affidavit required by this act. After 12 May 31, 2012, all political party primaries must be conducted 13 pursuant to the provisions of this act. 14 15 SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the 16 Governor. 17 XX 18

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