Bill 924

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               924
Ratification Number:       524
Act Number                 472
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Voter challenged

(A472, R524, S924)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 7-13-830, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE REQUIRED PROCEDURE WHEN A VOTER IS CHALLENGED, SO AS TO CLARIFY THE PROCEDURE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS UNSUCCESSFULLY CHALLENGED.

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

Voter challenged

SECTION 1. Section 7-13-830 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 126 of 1987, is further amended to read:

"Section 7-13-830. When any person is so challenged, the manager shall explain to him the qualifications of an elector and may examine his as to the same. If the person insists that he is qualified and the challenge is not withdrawn, his vote must be received and placed in an envelope on which must be written the name of the voter and that of the challenger. The challenged votes must be kept separate and apart and not counted but turned over to the commissioners of election or the county committee having supervision of the election. At the meeting specified in either Section 7-17-10 or 7-17-510, whichever is applicable, this authority shall hear all objections to these votes, and when no person appears or offers evidence before the meeting to sustain an objection made at the polls, the ballot is no longer a challenged ballot. When the challenger appears or produces witnesses or evidence in support of the challenge, the committee in charge shall proceed to hear and determine the question. Its decision is final. Each ballot which is no longer challenged and each ballot whose challenge was decided in favor of the voter must be removed from the envelope, mingled, and counted and the totals added to the previously counted regular ballot total of all precincts without attribution to a particular precinct. If the voting at the voting place is being done upon a voting machine, the managers shall provide a paper ballot which must be placed in an envelope and treated as provided in this section.

Where, pursuant to Section 7-13-820, a person's name could not be verified by the registration board or where a telephone was not available and the person was allowed to vote a challenged ballot, the Board of Voter Registration, before the meeting, shall certify to the authority in charge whether or not the voter is a qualified elector of the precinct in which he voted his challenged ballot. If the board certifies the person challenged is not a qualified elector of the precinct, this certification is considered an administrative challenge and is clear and convincing evidence for the meeting authority to disallow the ballot. Nothing in this section prohibits the county election commission from continuing any challenge administratively as long as it has evidence to sustain the challenge."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.