Bill 372

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               372
Ratification Number:       269
Act Number:                263
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Relating to elections

(A263, R269, S372)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 7-9-10 AND 7-13-350, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO ELECTIONS, SO AS TO CHANGE THE PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING PARTY CERTIFICATION BY PETITION AND TO ELIMINATE PROVISIONS FOR NOMINATING CANDIDATES BY PETITION; TO AMEND THE 1976 CODE BY ADDING SECTIONS 7-11-85 AND 7-13-351, SO AS TO PROVIDE PROCEDURE IN CASES INVOLVING NOMINATIONS BY PETITION.

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

Certification of political parties

SECTION 1. Section 7-9-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 7-9-10. Political parties desiring to nominate candidates for offices to be voted on in a general or special election must, before doing so, have applied to the State Election Commission (Commission) for certification as such. Parties heretofore certified must remain certified. Any other political party, organization, or association may obtain such certification as a political party at any time by filing with the Commission a petition for such certification signed by ten thousand or more registered electors residing in this State, giving the name of the party, which must be substantially different from the name of any other party previously certified. No petition for certification may be submitted to the Commission later than six months prior to any election in which the political party seeking certification wishes to nominate candidates for public office.

At the time a petition is submitted to the Commission for certification, the Commission must issue a receipt to the person submitting the petition which reflects the date the petition was submitted and the total number of signatures contained therein. Once the petition is received by the Commission, the person submitting the petition may not submit or add additional signatures.

If the Commission determines, after checking the validity of the signatures in the petition, that it does not contain the required signatures of registered electors, the person submitting the petition must be so notified and may not submit any new petition seeking certification as a political party under the same name for one year from the date the petition was rejected.

Once a petition for certification has been submitted and rejected by the Commission, the same signatures may not be submitted in any subsequent petition to certify a new political party.

Once submitted for verification, a petition for certification may not be returned to the political party, organization, or association seeking certification, but must become a part of the permanent records of the Commission."

Nomination by petition

SECTION 2. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 7-11-85. Every signature on a petition requiring five hundred or less signatures must be checked for validity by the respective county board of voter registration against the signatures of the voters on the original applications for registration on file in the registration board office. When a petition requires more than five hundred signatures, every one of the first five hundred signatures must be checked for validity and at least one out of every ten signatures thereafter beginning with the five hundred and first signature must be checked for validity. If the projected number of valid signatures, using this percentage method for the signatures over five hundred plus the number of valid signatures in the first five hundred, total at least the number of signatures required by law on the petition, it must be certified as a valid petition. No petition, however, may be rejected if the number of signatures over five hundred checked using the percentage method plus the number of valid signatures in the first five hundred does not total at least the number required by law. If insufficient signatures are found using the percentage method in order to certify it as a valid petition, the board of voter registration must check every signature over five hundred separately, or such number over five hundred until the required number of valid signatures is found.

If it is a petition seeking to certify a new political party or if the office for which the petition has been submitted comprises more than one county, and using the percentage method of checking does not result in the required number of valid signatures, the executive director of the Commission shall designate which counties must check additional signatures.

No signatures on a petition may be rejected if the address of a voter, registration certificate number of a voter, or the precinct of a voter, as required by Section 7-11-80, is missing or incorrect if the signature is otherwise valid. The signature of a voter may only be rejected if it is illegible and cannot be found in the records of the board of voter registration, is missing from the petition, or is not that of the voter, or if the registration of the voter has been deleted for any of the reasons named in items (2) or (3) of Subsection (C) of Section 7-3-20.

The board of voter registration shall complete a summary form containing the results of checking any petition and must give the completed form to the requesting authority. The form used for this purpose must be prescribed and provided by the executive director."

Certified candidates nominated by petition, primary or convention shall be placed on ballot

SECTION 3. Section 7-13-350 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 644 of 1976, is further amended to read:

Section 7-13-350. The nominees in a party primary or party convention held under the provisions of this Title by any political party certified by the Commission under this Title for one or more of the offices, national, state, circuit, multicounty district or county, to be voted on in the general election shall be placed upon the appropriate ballot for the election as candidates nominated by party by the authority charged by law with preparing the ballot if the names of the nominees are certified by the political party chairman, vice-chairman, or secretary to such authority, for general elections held under Section 7-13-10, not later than twelve o'clock noon on September first, or if September first falls on Sunday, not later than twelve o'clock noon on the following Monday."

Nomination by petition

SECTION 4. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 7-13-351. Any nominee by petition for one or more of the offices, national, state, circuit, multicounty district or county, to be voted on in the general election must be placed upon the appropriate ballot by the officer, commissioners, or other authority charged by law with preparing the ballot if the petition is submitted to the officer, commissioner, or other authority, as the case may be, for general elections held under Section 7-13-10, not later than twelve o'clock noon on August first, or if August first falls on Sunday, not later than twelve o'clock noon on the following Monday. At the time the petition is submitted, the authority charged with accepting it must issue a receipt to the person submitting the petition which must reflect the date it was submitted and the total number of signatures contained therein. The board of voter registration of each respective county must check the petition at the request of the authority charged with printing the ballot for that office and must certify the results to the authority not later than twelve o'clock noon September first, or if September first falls on Sunday, not later than twelve o'clock noon on the following Monday.

The petition of any candidate in any special or municipal election must be submitted to the authority charged with printing the ballot for those offices not later than noon, on the forty-fifth day prior to the date of the holding of the election, or if the forty-fifth day falls on Sunday, by not later than twelve o'clock noon on the following Monday. At the time a petition is submitted, the authority charged with accepting it must issue a receipt to the person submitting the petition which must reflect the date it was submitted and the total number of signatures contained therein. The board of voter registration of each respective county must check the petition at the request of the authority charged with printing of the ballots for that office and must certify the results thereof to the authority not later than twelve o'clock noon on the thirtieth day prior to the date of holding the election, or if the thirtieth day falls on Sunday, by twelve o'clock noon on the following Monday.

Once submitted for verification, a petition for nomination of a candidate for any office may not be returned to the petitioner, but must be retained by the authority to whom the petition was submitted and must become a part of the records of the election for which it was submitted."

Time effective

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.