H 3036 General Bill, By J.L.M. Cromer, Bailey, Cotty, Inabinett and Lloyd

Similar(H 3017)
 A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION
 7-15-315 SO AS TO PROVIDE A PROCEDURE FOR EARLY VOTING; AND TO AMEND SECTION
 7-15-320, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERSONS QUALIFIED TO VOTE BY ABSENTEE
 BALLOT, SO AS TO ADD PERSONS WHO DESIRE TO VOTE EARLY BY PERSONAL APPEARANCE
 IN STATEWIDE ELECTIONS AND THEIR NOMINATING PRIMARIES.

   12/11/96  House  Prefiled
   12/11/96  House  Referred to Committee on Judiciary
   01/14/97  House  Introduced and read first time HJ-25
   01/14/97  House  Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-26
   03/18/97  House  Tabled in committee Judiciary

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 7-15-315 SO AS TO PROVIDE A PROCEDURE FOR EARLY VOTING; AND TO AMEND SECTION 7-15-320, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERSONS QUALIFIED TO VOTE BY ABSENTEE BALLOT, SO AS TO ADD PERSONS WHO DESIRE TO VOTE EARLY BY PERSONAL APPEARANCE IN STATEWIDE ELECTIONS AND THEIR NOMINATING PRIMARIES.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 7-15-315. (A) Any qualified voter may vote early in statewide general elections and in their nominating primaries by personal appearance. To be entitled to vote early, a person must make an application in person at the county board of registration, or at an extension office of the board of registration as established by the county governing body, at the time when the applicant desires to vote. The office of the county board of registration and its extension office, if applicable, are also the early voting precincts for the county. No other early voting precinct may be allowed.

(B) An application must be in writing in the form prescribed by the State Election Commission and signed and attested to by the applicant. The applicant must produce the identification required by Section 7-13-710. The application must include the person's name and address at which he is registered to vote.

(C) The period for early voting by personal appearance begins on the fourteenth day before election day and continues through 5:00 PM on the day immediately preceding the election day. For a runoff election, the period begins on the seventh day before the election. If the date prescribed for beginning the period is a Sunday or a legal state holiday, the period begins on the next regular business day. If, because of the date for which an election is ordered, it is not possible to begin early voting by personal appearance on the prescribed date, the early voting period shall begin on the earliest date practicable after the prescribed date as set by the authority ordering the election.

(D) Early voting by personal appearance must be conducted on the weekdays of the early voting period and during the hours that the county board of registration is regularly open for business and on the last two Saturdays before the statewide election day or their nominating primaries between the hours of 9:00 AM through 5:00 PM. The clerk of the county board of registration shall follow the procedure for accepting an absentee ballot under this chapter with the modifications necessary for the conduct of early voting.

(E) Notice of the time and place for early voting must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county as part of the public notice required in Section 7-13-35.

(F) The State Election Commission shall promulgate regulations for the conduct of early voting."

SECTION 2. Section 7-15-320 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 434 of 1996, is further amended to read:

"Section 7-15-320. A qualified elector in any of the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections when he is absent from his county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open, to an extent that it prevents him from voting in person except that physically disabled persons, certified poll watchers, poll managers, county voter registration board members and staff, and county election commission members and staff working on election day, a person admitted to a hospital as an emergency patient on the day of an election or within a four-day period before an election, and persons whose employment obligations required that they be at their place of employment during the hours that the polls are open and present written certification of that obligation, signed by their employer, to the county registration board, and persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial, and persons who desire to vote early by personal appearance in statewide general elections and their nominating primaries pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-15-315 may vote by absentee ballot whether or not absent from their county of residence:

(1) students, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;

(2) members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;

(3) persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;

(4) persons in employment;

(5) physically disabled persons;

(6) governmental employees, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;

(7) electors with a death or funeral in the family within a three-day period before the election;

(8) persons on vacation (who by virtue of vacation plans will be absent from their county of residence on election day);

(9) certified poll watchers, poll managers, county voter registration board members and staff, and county election commission members and staff working on election day;

(10) overseas citizens;

(11) persons attending sick or physically disabled persons;

(12) persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election;

(13) persons who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on election day;

(14) persons sixty-five years of age or older;

(15) persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial;

(16) persons desiring to vote early by personal appearance in statewide general elections and their nominating primaries pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-15-315."

SECTION 3. This act is effective upon the signature of the Governor for all elections occurring after that date.