2017-2018 Bill 3144: Early Voting - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 H. 3144 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Clyburn and CobbHunter 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\ggs\22914zw17.docx 11 Companion/Similar bill(s): 100 12 13 Introduced in the House on January 10, 2017 14 Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary 15 16 Summary: Early voting 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 12/15/2016 House Prefiled 23 12/15/2016 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary 24 1/10/2017 House Introduced and read first time ( House Journalpage 91) 25 1/10/2017 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary ( House Journalpage 91) 26 27 View the latest legislative information at the website 28 29 30 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 31 32 12/15/2016 33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 71325 SO AS TO ESTABLISH 13 EARLY VOTING PROCEDURES, AND TO PROVIDE FOR AN 14 EARLY VOTING PERIOD TO BEGIN THIRTY DAYS 15 BEFORE AN ELECTION; TO AMEND SECTION 7320, AS 16 AMENDED, RELATING TO DUTIES OF THE EXECUTIVE 17 DIRECTOR OF THE STATE ELECTION COMMISSION, SO 18 AS TO FURTHER DEFINE HIS DUTIES; AND TO AMEND 19 SECTION 715320, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO PERSONS 20 QUALIFIED TO VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT, SO AS TO 21 INCLUDE VOTING DURING THE EARLY VOTING PERIOD. 22 23 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 24 Carolina: 25 26 SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 13, Title 7 of the 1976 Code is 27 amended by adding: 28 29 “Section 71325. (A) Notwithstanding the provisions of this 30 chapter or Chapter 5 of this title, the authority charged by law with 31 conducting an election shall establish a procedure by which a 32 qualified elector may cast his ballot, without excuse, during an 33 early voting period for all elections. The qualified elector may cast 34 a ballot during an early voting period pursuant to this section. 35 (B) Early voting centers must be established and maintained to 36 ensure that voters may cast only one ballot. 37 (C) A qualified elector may cast his ballot at an early voting 38 center in the county in which he resides. 39 (D) Each county board of registration and elections must 40 establish at least one early voting center. The county board of 41 registration and elections shall determine the location of the early

[3144] 2 1 voting center or centers. Each early voting center must be 2 supervised by election commission employees. 3 (E) The early voting period begins thirty days before an 4 election and ends three days prior to the election. 5 (F) The county board of registration and elections shall 6 determine the hours of operation for the early voting center or 7 centers; however, each early voting center must be open no fewer 8 than three Saturdays within the early voting period for statewide 9 primaries and general elections. 10 (G) A sign must be posted prominently in the early voting 11 center and shall have printed on it, ‘VOTING MORE THAN 12 ONCE IS A MISDEMEANOR AND, UPON CONVICTION, A 13 PERSON MUST BE FINED IN THE DISCRETION OF THE 14 COURT OR IMPRISONED NOT MORE THAN THREE 15 YEARS’.” 16 17 SECTION 2. Section 7320(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended 18 by Act 196 of 2014, is further amended by adding an appropriately 19 numbered item at the end to read: 20 21 “( ) enter into the master file a separate designation each for 22 voters casting absentee ballots and early ballots in a general 23 election.” 24 25 SECTION 3. Section 715320 of the 1976 Code, as last amended 26 by Act 289 of 2014, is further amended by adding at the end to 27 read: 28 29 “(C) A qualified elector may vote during the early voting period 30 pursuant to Section 71325.” 31 32 SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the 33 Governor. 34 XX 35

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