Tag Archives: ACLU SC

SC Election Protection Hotline Now Live for Presidential Primary

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The nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition, in alliance with various in-state groups, is ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to vote in South Carolina. Election Protection’s 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline is an important resource for any voter who has questions or is experiencing problems at the polls. In addition, Election Protection volunteers will be on the ground across South Carolina to provide voters assistance.

“This will be the 12th year that this free, nonpartisan service has helped South Carolina voters with problems at the polls,” said SC Progressive Network Education Fund Director Brett Bursey. “The calls to the hotline provide the only real-time, statewide audit of our election system that helps us to identify and address systemic problems.”

Voters are urged to report problems that they experience or witness, so officials can see patterns and improve our election system.

Because not all polling places will be open on Feb. 29, voters should check the hotline or go to Find My Polling Place at scvotes.org. This is the first statewide use of our new voting machines that produce a paper ballot. Voters should verify their ballot was marked correctly prior to inserting it in the scanner. If the ballot does not reflect their choice, voters can turn it in to a poll worker and vote again.

“Voters must be aware that the state’s photo ID requirements will be enforced for voting in the 2020 presidential preference primary,” said Susan Dunn, attorney for the ACLU of South Carolina. All voters are required to bring either a valid driver’s license, DMV-issued ID card, or their photo-voter registration card with them to the polls on Election Day. Dunn pointed out that registered voters with a “reasonable impediment” to not having a photo ID will be allowed to vote, and the votes will be counted without the voter having to appear to defend their ballot at the county certification hearing. “We recommend voters without one of the accepted ID’s is to trade their old paper registration card at their county elections office for one with a photo on it,” Dunn said.

By calling the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline, voters can confirm their registration status, find their polling location, and get answers to questions about proper identification at the polls. Voters are encouraged to report any problems with the voting process to Election Protection.

Spanish language assistance is available at 1-888-Ve-Y-Vota (1-888-83-9-8682) or veyvota.org.

Voter Reminders

  • Verify your registration status to ensure that you can vote.
  • Confirm your polling location, even if it has been in the same place for years.
  • Bring required ID, and know your rights regarding providing identification.
  • Prepare your registered friends and neighbors, and bring them to the polls!

Election Commission mails nearly 1 million unregistered residents ahead of Oct. 17 deadline

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The State Election Commission today began sending 950,000 South Carolina residents a postcard urging them to register by Oct. 17 in order to vote in the 2018 general election. Voter registration was extended due to Hurricane Florence in a court settlement initiated by the SC Progressive Network, the ACLU of SC, and the national Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in anticipation of the storm’s impact.

The mailing was the result of South Carolina’s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a nonpartisan project started in 2012 funded by Pew Charitable Trust and operated by member states to use voter registration, motor vehicle, Census, and Social Security Administration data to improve the accuracy of voter rolls. The 950,000 unregistered South Carolinians is nearly 100,000 more than previous estimates.

South Carolina is the latest of 25 states – and only one of three in the South – to use the service to mail residents who are eligible but not registered to vote. The United States is one of the few advanced democracies to require citizens to register in order to vote. US voter turn ranks 31st of the world’s 34 developed nations.

“While the mailing was already planned, the timing was fortunate in that it allows us to directly notify unregistered citizens that the voter registration deadline has been extended to Oct. 17,” said SEC Executive Director Marci Andino. “We want every eligible person in South Carolina to have the opportunity to register by Oct. 17.”

The SC Progressive Network applauds the effort to expand the state’s voter rolls, which the organization has long advocated. The Network’s policy institute wrote, and the late Sen. Clementa Pinckney introduced, legislation for universal registration in 2007 (S-254 and H-3682). “This bill points out that voter registration in South Carolina has always been used to keep people from voting,” said Network Director Brett Bursey. “We plan to reintroduce legislation in the coming session that will add voter education and registration to the curriculum of high school seniors across the state.”

The Network’s nonpartisan Missing Voter Project was started in 2004 to educate and register SC residents who have been historically under-represented in the state’s public policy decisions. Volunteers across the state are trained to provide education and registration materials in targeted communities to engage the million-plus missing voters in South Carolina. For details, email network@scpronet.com or call 803-808-3384.

SEC Executive Director Marci Andino