South Carolina General Assembly
110th Session, 1993-1994

Bill 4560


                    Current Status
Introducing Body:               House
Bill Number:                    4560
Ratification Number:            407
Act Number:                     365
Primary Sponsor:                Hodges
Type of Legislation:            GB
Subject:                        Voter registration,
                                confinement in public prison
Date Bill Passed both Bodies:   19940419
Computer Document Number:       PT/22342DW.94
Governor's Action:              S
Date of Governor's Action:      19940503
Introduced Date:                19940119
Date of Last Amendment:         19940322
Last History Body:              ------
Last History Date:              19940503
Last History Type:              Act No. 365
Scope of Legislation:           Statewide
All Sponsors:                   Hodges
                                J. Wilder
Type of Legislation:            General Bill

History

Bill   Body    Date          Action Description              CMN  Leg Involved
----   ------  ------------  ------------------------------  ---  ------------
4560   ------  19940503      Act No. 365
4560   ------  19940503      Signed by Governor
4560   ------  19940427      Ratified R 407
4560   Senate  19940419      Read third time, enrolled for
                             ratification
4560   Senate  19940414      Read second time
4560   Senate  19940413      Committee Report: Favorable     11
4560   Senate  19940324      Introduced, read first time,    11
                             referred to Committee
4560   House   19940323      Read third time, sent to
                             Senate
4560   House   19940322      Amended, read second time
4560   House   19940216      Committee Report: Favorable     25
                             with amendment
4560   House   19940119      Introduced, read first time,    25
                             referred to Committee
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A365, R407, H4560)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 7-5-120, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE QUALIFICATIONS AND DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR REGISTRATION TO VOTE, SO AS TO DELETE LANGUAGE WHICH PROVIDES THAT CONFINEMENT IN A PUBLIC PRISON DISQUALIFIES A PERSON FROM BEING REGISTERED OR VOTING AND PROVIDE THAT A PERSON IS DISQUALIFIED FROM VOTING IF HE IS SERVING A TERM OF IMPRISONMENT RESULTING FROM A CONVICTION OF A CRIME; AND TO AMEND SECTIONS 7-15-120, 7-15-320, AND 7-15-340, ALL AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE ABSENTEE REGISTRATION FORM, THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS VOTING AN ABSENTEE BALLOT, AND THE APPLICATION FORM FOR AN ABSENTEE BALLOT, SO AS TO MAKE THESE CODE SECTIONS CONFORM TO THE AMENDMENT OF SECTION 7-5-120 IN THIS ACT.

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

Qualifications

SECTION 1. Section 7-5-120 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 7-5-120. (A) Every citizen of this State and the United States who applies for registration must be registered if he meets the following qualifications:

(1) is at least eighteen years of age;

(2) is not laboring under disabilities named in the Constitution of 1895 of this State;

(3) is a resident in the county and in the polling precinct in which the elector offers to vote.

(B) A person is disqualified from being registered or voting if he:

(1) is mentally incompetent as adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction; or

(2) is serving a term of imprisonment resulting from a conviction of a crime; or

(3) is convicted of a felony or offenses against the election laws, unless the disqualification has been removed by service of the sentence, including probation and parole time unless sooner pardoned."

Form

SECTION 2. Section 7-15-120 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 7-15-120. Persons listed in items (1), (2), (3), or (4) of Section 7-15-110, their spouses, and dependents residing with them, and item (9) of such section may register by using either federal Standard Form 76, or any subsequent form replacing it issued by the federal government, or the state absentee registration form. In order to be registered, either form must reach the county board of registration not later than thirty days before the election. The State Election Commission shall have printed and shall furnish the board of registration of each county an adequate number of registration forms in the following form, substituting in each case the appropriate calendar year for which the cards are printed:

ABSENTEE REGISTRATION FOR THE ELECTION TO BE

HELD , 19____

________________ County No. ________ READ CAREFULLY THE INSTRUCTIONS PRINTED ON THE REVERSE SIDE HEREOF BEFORE FILLING IN THIS FORM: I hereby swear (or affirm) that:

(1) My full name is: ________________

(2) I am a citizen of the United States and of the State of South Carolina.

(3) The date of my birth was: ________

(4) I am not disqualified from voting because of a felony conviction or offense against the election laws.

(5) I am (check appropriate box)

[] (a) in the Armed Forces of the United States.

[] (b) in the Merchant Marine of the United States.

[] (c) serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations.

[] (d) a member or employee of the ________ department of the United States Government serving overseas.

[] (e) a student residing outside of the county of my residence and enrolled in an institution of learning.

[] (f) a spouse or dependent residing with any of the above.

[] (g) physically disabled due to illness or injury.

[] (h) a person whose employment is out of state.

[] (i) a spouse or dependent residing with a person whose employment is out of state.

[] (j) sixty-five years of age or older.

[] (k) currently confined in a pre-trial facility pending disposition of an arrest or trial.

(6) My home address in South Carolina is: ________

(7) My mailing address (address to which absentee ballot should be sent) is: ________

(8) My State House of Representative District Number (if known) is: ________

(9) My Social Security Number is: ________

____________________

Signature of Applicant

On the back of each card shall be printed the following:

INSTRUCTIONS. This registration form must be filled out and returned, in the envelope accompanying it, to your county board of registration. All entries except your signature should be printed or typewritten.

You are required to sign the form.

Conviction of a felony or offenses against the election laws disqualifies you from registering and voting, unless such disqualification shall have been removed by service of the sentence, including probation and parole time unless sooner pardoned.

Except for persons in category (5)(g) of this form, registration by this form, if granted by your county board of registration, is valid only for the elections to be held during this calendar year. For elections which are held in subsequent calendar years, you must be registered again. Persons applying under category (5)(g), `physically disabled due to illness or injury', may upon presentation of a written statement of such disability by their doctor and persons who are sixty-five years of age or older, may use this form instead of the regular registration form to be registered permanently.

IN ORDER TO BE REGISTERED, THIS FORM MUST REACH YOUR COUNTY BOARD OF REGISTRATION NOT LATER THAN THIRTY DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION."

Qualifications for voting an absentee ballot

SECTION 3. Section 7-15-320 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 489 of 1992, 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, 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 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 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) poll managers, county voter registration board members and staff, 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 seventy-two years of age or older;

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

Application

SECTION 4. Section 7-15-340 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 489 of 1992, is further amended to read:

"Section 7-15-340. The application required in Section 7-15-330 to be submitted to such election officials must be in the following form; except that persons listed in Section 7-15-320(2), (3), (6), and (10) may use Standard Form 76, or any subsequent form replacing it, provided by the federal government as a simultaneous request for registration and an absentee ballot or a request for an absentee ballot if already registered.

APPLICATION FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT TO THE BOARD OF VOTER REGISTRATION: ________ COUNTY

I hereby apply for an absentee ballot and request that I be permitted to vote in the election to be held on the ____ day of ________ 19__.

(If you will also be absent for any subsequent runoff election which is held two weeks after the initial election and wish for an absentee ballot for the runoff to be sent to your absentee address, check here: [])

(If a ballot is requested for a primary election, print your political party preference in this space ________.)

I am a qualified elector and am registered to vote in the ________ precinct and ________ State House of Representatives District (if known). My registration certificate number is ________.

My full name is ________________. Please Print

I hereby swear or affirm, UNDER PENALTY OF LAW, that I will be absent from my county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open or unable to appear at the polling place because of physical disability, employment obligations requiring that I be at my place of employment in my county of residence during the hours the polls are open, responsibilities as a poll manager, county registration board member or staff, or county election commission member or staff, and that I am eligible to vote by absentee ballot under one of the following categories:

(CHECK APPROPRIATE BOX)

[] 1. Students, their spouses, and dependents residing with them. (The term `students' shall mean all persons residing outside of the counties of their respective residences, enrolled in an institution of learning).

[] 2. Armed Forces, Merchant Marine, their spouses, and dependents residing with them.

[] 3. Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them.

[] 4. Employment. (The term `employment' means those persons who by virtue of their employment obligations will be absent from their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open and who will be unable to vote in person, or those persons who are required by their employment obligations to be at their place of employment in their county of residence during the entire hours that the polls are open and will be unable to vote in person; and further, must present written certification of such obligations, signed by their employer, to the county registration board).

[] 5. Physically disabled person. (The term `physically disabled person' means a person who because of injury or illness, cannot be present in person at his voting place on election day whether physically present inside or outside his county of residence).

[] 6. Governmental employees, their spouses, and dependents residing with them, who are out of their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open.

[] 7. Death in family, or attending funeral within a three-day period of election.

[] 8. Persons on vacation (who by virtue of vacation plans will be absent from their county of residence and unable to vote in person).

[] 9. Poll managers and county voter registration board members and staff, and county election commission members and staff working on election day. (Persons in this category are entitled to vote by absentee ballot whether physically present inside or outside of their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open).

[] 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 seventy-two years of age or older.

[] 15. Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial.

My home address in South Carolina as shown on my registration certificate is:

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

My absentee mailing address (address to which absentee ballot should be mailed) is:

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

_____________________________________

Signature

_________________________________________

Social Security or Identification Number."

Time effective

SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Approved the 3rd day of May, 1994.