South Carolina Code of Laws
(Unannotated)
Current through the end of the 2008 Session
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Title 7 - Elections
CHAPTER 19.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO FEDERAL ELECTIONS
SECTION 7-19-10. Election of United States Senators.
A United States Senator shall be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of the term of any United States Senator from this State.
SECTION 7-19-20. Filling vacancies in office of United States Senator.
In case of a vacancy in the office of United States Senator from death, resignation or otherwise, the Governor may fill the place by appointment which shall be for the period of time intervening between the date of such appointment and January third following the next succeeding general election. But in the event any such vacancy shall occur less than one hundred days prior to any general election, the appointment shall be for the period of time intervening between the date of such appointment and January third following the second general election next succeeding. The Governor shall within five days after any such appointment order an election to be held in connection with and at the time of the general election immediately preceding the expiration date of such appointment if at the expiration of such appointment an unexpired term shall remain.
SECTION 7-19-30. Election of Representatives in Congress.
Representatives in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States shall be chosen at each general election in the several congressional districts by the qualified voters thereof.
SECTION 7-19-40. Division of State into six congressional districts.
The State is hereby divided into six congressional districts, as follows:
SECTION 7-19-50. Each congressional district shall elect one member of Congress; procedure after new apportionment.
Until the next apportionment be made by the Congress of the United States, each of such congressional districts shall be entitled to elect one member to represent this State in the Congress of the United States. After such new apportionment by Congress the General Assembly shall divide the State into as many congressional districts as the State is entitled to members in the House of Representatives.
SECTION 7-19-60. Writs of election in case State is given more Representatives.
In case the Congress of the United States shall by any new apportionment give to this State more than six members of the House of Representatives and the General Assembly shall not be in session, the Governor shall by proclamation issue writs of election for congressmen at large, one or more, as the case may be.
SECTION 7-19-70. Election of presidential electors; certificates of appointment.
Unless otherwise provided, the election of presidential electors shall be conducted and the returns made in the manner prescribed by this chapter for the election of state officers.
The names of candidates for electors of President and Vice President nominated by any political party recognized in this State under Section 7-9-10 or by a valid petition shall be filed with the Secretary of State but shall not be printed on the ballot. In place of their names, in accordance with the provisions of Section 7-13-320, there shall be printed on the ballot the names of the candidates for President and Vice President of each political party recognized in this State and the names of any petition candidates for President and Vice President. A vote for the candidates named on the ballot shall be a vote for the electors of the party by which those candidates were nominated or the electors of petition candidates whose names have been filed with the Secretary of State.
Upon receipt of the certified determination of the Board of State Canvassers and delivered to him in accordance with Section 7-17-300, the Secretary of State, under his hand and the seal of his office, as required by Section 7-17-310, shall certify to the Governor the names of the persons elected to the office of elector for President and Vice President of the United States as stated in the certified determination, who shall be deemed appointed as electors.
It shall be the duty of the Governor, as soon as practicable after the conclusion of the appointment of the electors pursuant to the laws of the State providing for the election and appointment of the electors, to communicate by registered mail under the seal of the State to the Administrator of General Services a certificate of appointment of the electors, setting forth the names of the electors and the canvass or other ascertainment under the laws of this State of the number of votes given or cast for each person for whose appointment any and all votes have been given or cast. It shall also thereupon be the duty of the Governor to deliver to the electors of the State, on or before the day on which they are required by law to meet, six duplicate originals of the same certificate under the seal of the State. If there shall have been any final determination in the manner provided for by law of a controversy or contest concerning the appointment of all or any of the electors, it shall be the duty of the Governor, as soon as practicable after the determination, to communicate under the seal of the State to the Administrator of General Services a certificate of such determination.
SECTION 7-19-80. Candidate for elector shall declare for which candidates he will vote; elector shall vote for candidates for whom he declared.
Each candidate for presidential and vice-presidential elector shall declare which candidate for president and vice-president he will vote for if elected. Those elected shall vote for the president and vice-president candidates for whom they declared. Any person selected to fill a vacancy in the electoral college shall vote for the candidates the elector whose place he is taking had declared for. The declaration shall be made to the Secretary of State on such form as he may require not later than sixty days prior to the general election for electors. No candidate for president and vice-president elector shall have his name placed on the ballot who fails to make such declaration by the prescribed time. Any elector who votes contrary to the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of violating the election laws of this State and upon conviction shall be punished according to law. Any registered elector shall have the right to institute proper action to require compliance with the provisions of this section. The Attorney General shall institute criminal action for any violation of the provision of this section. Provided, the executive committee of the party from which an elector of the electoral college was elected may relieve the elector from the obligation to vote for a specific candidate when, in its judgment, circumstances shall have arisen which, in the opinion of the committee, it would not be in the best interest of the State for the elector to cast his ballot for such a candidate.
SECTION 7-19-90. Meeting of electors; organization; balloting and certification of results.
The electors for President and Vice President shall convene at the capitol, in the office of the Secretary of State, at eleven in the forenoon, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December next following their appointment, and shall proceed to effect a permanent organization by the election of a president and secretary from their own body. The electors shall next proceed to fill by ballot and by plurality of votes all vacancies in the electoral college occasioned by the death, refusal to serve, or neglect to attend, of any elector. The electors shall then and there vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves.
The electors shall make and sign six certificates of all the votes given by them for President and Vice President, each of which certificates shall contain two distinct lists, one of the votes for President and the other for Vice President, and shall annex to each of the certificates one of the lists of the electors which shall have been furnished to them by the Secretary of State by direction of the Governor. The electors shall seal up separately the certificates and lists of the electors so made by them, and certify upon each that the list of all the votes of the State given for President, and of all of the votes given for Vice President are contained therein.
SECTION 7-19-100. Disposition of certificates and lists.
The electors shall dispose of the certificates so made by them and the lists attached thereto in the following manner:
First. They shall forthwith forward by registered mail one of the certificates and lists to the President of the Senate at the seat of government.
Second. Two of the certificates and lists shall be delivered to the Secretary of State of South Carolina, one of which shall be held subject to the order of the President of the Senate, and the other shall be preserved by him for one year and shall be a part of the public records of his office and shall be open to public inspection.
Third. On the day thereafter they shall forward by registered mail two of the certificates and lists to the Administrator of General Services at the seat of government, one of which shall be held subject to the order of the President of the Senate.
Fourth. They shall forthwith cause the other of the certificates and lists to be delivered to the judge of the district in which the electors shall have assembled.
SECTION 7-19-110. Compensation and expenses of electors.
Every elector for this State for the election of a president and vice-president of the United States who shall attend at any election of those officers and give his vote at the time and place appointed by law shall be entitled to receive for his attendance at such election and for traveling to and from his place of residence by the most usual route the regular mileage, subsistence and per diem allowance authorized for state boards, committees and commissions to be paid from appropriations to the office of the Secretary of State.
The Governor, Secretary of State and other State officers shall perform such duties and functions in respect to the election of electors, the election of the President and Vice-President of the United States and certification of electors and results of such election as provided by the acts of Congress in relation thereto.
