Reference is to the bill as introduced.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. Chapter 15, Title 7 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 7-15-600. This act may be cited as the 'South Carolina Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act'.
Section 7-15-610. In registering to vote, an overseas voter who is eligible to vote in this State shall use and must be assigned to the voting precinct of the address of the last place of residence of the voter in this State, or in the case of a voter described by Section 7-15-310(10)(e), the address of the last place of residence in this State of the parent or legal guardian of the voter. If that address is no longer a recognized residential address, the voter must be assigned an address for voting purposes.
Section 7-15-620. (A)
To apply to register to vote, in addition to
another approved method, a covered voter may use a federal
postcard application, or the application's electronic
equivalent.
(B) A covered voter may
use the declaration accompanying a federal write-in absentee
ballot to apply to register to vote simultaneously with the
submission of the federal write-in absentee ballot, if the
declaration is received before the closure of the registration
books for that election. If the declaration is received after
that date, it must be treated as an application to register to
vote for subsequent elections.
(C) The executive
director of the State Election Commission shall ensure that the
election commission's electronic transmission system is capable
of accepting both a federal postcard application and any other
approved electronic registration application sent to the
appropriate election official. The voter may use the electronic
transmission system or any other approved method to register to
vote.
Section 7-15-630. (A)
A covered voter may use the declaration
accompanying a federal write-in absentee ballot as an
application for a military-overseas ballot simultaneously with
the submission of the federal write-in absentee ballot, if the
declaration is received by the appropriate election official by
seven o'clock p.m. on election day.
(B) To receive the
benefits of this article, a covered voter must inform the
appropriate election official that the voter is a covered voter.
Methods of informing the appropriate election official that a
voter is a covered voter include:
(1)
the use of a federal postcard application or federal
write-in absentee ballot;
(2)
the use of an overseas address on an approved voter
registration application or ballot application; and
(3)
the inclusion on an approved voter registration
application or ballot application of other information
sufficient to identify the voter as a covered voter.
Section 7-15-640. If a ballot application from a covered voter arrives after the jurisdiction begins transmitting ballots and balloting materials to voters, the official charged with distributing a ballot and balloting materials shall transmit them to the voter not later than five o'clock p.m. on the next business day after the application arrives.
Section 7-15-650. (A)
A valid military-overseas ballot must be
counted if it is delivered to the address that the appropriate
state or local election office has specified by the close of
business on the business day before the county canvass.
(B) If, at the time of
completing a military-overseas ballot and balloting materials,
the voter has declared under penalty of perjury that the ballot
was timely submitted, the ballot may not be rejected on the
basis that it has a late postmark, an unreadable postmark, or no
postmark as long as the ballot was received in accordance with
subsection (A).
Section 7-15-660. A military-overseas ballot must include or be accompanied by a declaration signed by the voter that a material misstatement of fact in completing the ballot may be grounds for a conviction of perjury under the laws of the United States or this State.
Section 7-15-670. The
Executive Director of the State Election Commission, in
coordination with local election officials, shall implement an
electronic free-access system by which a covered voter may
determine whether:
(1)
the voter's federal postcard application or other
registration or military-overseas ballot application has been
received and accepted; or
(2)
the voter's military-overseas ballot has been received and
the current status of the ballot.
Section 7-15-680. (A)
The local election official shall request an
electronic-mail address from each covered voter who registers to
vote after the effective date of this article. An
electronic-mail address provided by a covered voter may not be
made available to the public or any individual or organization
other than an authorized agent of the local election official
and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information
laws of this State. The address may be used only for official
communication with the voter about the voting process, including
transmitting military-overseas ballots and election materials if
the voter has requested electronic transmission, and verifying
the voter's mailing address and physical location. The request
for an electronic-mail address must describe the purposes for
which the electronic-mail address may be used and include a
statement that any other use or disclosure of the
electronic-mail address is prohibited.
(B) A covered voter who
provides an electronic-mail address may request that the voter's
application for a military-overseas ballot be considered a
standing request for electronic delivery of a ballot for all
elections held through December thirty-first of the year
following the calendar year of the date of the application or
another shorter period the voter specifies, including for any
runoff elections that occur as a result of those elections. An
election official shall provide a military-overseas ballot to a
voter who makes a standing request for each election to which
the request is applicable. A covered voter who is entitled to
receive a military-overseas ballot for a primary election under
this subsection is entitled to receive a military-overseas
ballot for the general election.
Section 7-15-690. (A)
At least one hundred days before a regularly
scheduled election and as soon as practicable before an election
not regularly scheduled, the executive director of the State
Election Commission shall prepare appropriate election notices
to be used in conjunction with a federal write-in absentee
ballot. The election notice must contain a list of all of the
ballot measures and federal, state, and local offices that as of
that date the official expects to be on the ballot on the date
of the election. The notice also must contain specific
instructions for how a voter is to indicate on the federal
write-in absentee ballot the voter's choice for each office to
be filled and for each ballot measure to be contested.
(B) A covered voter may
request a copy of an election notice. The executive director
shall send the notice to the voter by facsimile, electronic
mail, or regular mail, as the voter requests.
(C) As soon as ballot
styles are certified, and not later than the date ballots are
required to be transmitted to voters pursuant to Article 5,
Chapter 15 of this title, the executive director shall update
the notice with the certified candidates for each office and
ballot measure questions and make the updated notice publicly
available.
(D) A local election
jurisdiction that maintains an online website shall make the
election notice available by linking to the State Election
Commission website.
Section 7-15-700. (A)
If a voter's mistake or omission in the
completion of a document pursuant to this article does not
prevent determining whether a covered voter is eligible to vote,
the mistake or omission does not invalidate the document.
Failure to satisfy a nonsubstantive requirement, such as using
paper or envelopes of a specified size or weight, does not
invalidate a document submitted pursuant to this article. In a
write-in ballot authorized by this article or in a vote for a
write-in candidate on a regular ballot, if the intention of the
voter is discernable pursuant to the laws of this State, an
abbreviation, misspelling, or other minor variation in the form
of the name of a candidate or a political party must be accepted
as a valid vote.
(B) Notarization is not
required for the execution of a document pursuant to this
article. An authentication, other than the declaration
specified in Section 7-15-660, or the declaration on the federal
postcard application and federal write-in absentee ballot, is
not required for execution of a document pursuant to this
article. The declaration and any information in the declaration
may be compared with information on file to ascertain the
validity of the document.
Section 7-15-710. A
court may issue an injunction or grant other equitable relief
appropriate to ensure substantial compliance with, or enforce,
this article on application by:
(1)
a covered voter alleging a grievance under this article;
or
(2)
an election official in this State.
Section 7-15-720. In applying and construing this article, consideration may be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it."
SECTION 2. Section 7-15-310 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 392 of 2000, is further amended to read:
"Section 7-15-310.
As used in this
articlechapter:
(1) The
term 'Members of the Armed Forces of the United States'
means members of the United States Army, the United States Navy,
the United States Marine Corps, the United States Air Force, the
United States Coast Guard, or any of their respective
components.
(2) The
term 'Members of the Merchant Marine of the United
States' means all officers and men engaged in maritime service
on board ships.
(3) The
term 'Students' means all persons residing outside of
the counties of their respective residences, enrolled in an
institution of learning.
(4) 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.
(5) The
term 'Registration form' means Standard Form 76, or
anya subsequent form replacing it,
authorized by the federal government or the state form described
in Section 7-15-120.
(6) The
term 'Persons in employment' means those persons who by
virtue of their employment obligations are unable to vote in
person.
(7) The
term 'Authorized representative' means a registered
elector who, with the voter's permission, acts on behalf of a
voter unable to go to the polls because of illness or disability
resulting in his confinement in a hospital, sanatorium, nursing
home, or place of residence, or a voter unable because of a
physical handicap to go to his polling place or because of
sucha handicap is unable to vote
at his polling place due to existing architectural barriers
whichthat deny him physical access to
the polling place, voting booth, or voting apparatus or
machinery. Under no circumstance shall a candidate or a member
of a candidate's paid campaign staff or volunteers reimbursed
for the time they expend on campaign activity be considered an
'authorized representative' of an elector desiring to vote by
absentee ballot.
(8) The
term 'Immediate family' means a person's spouse,
parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents,
grandchildren, and mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law,
brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, sons-in-law, and
daughters-in-law.
(9) The
term 'Overseas citizen' means a citizen of the United
States residing outside of the United States as specified by
Section 7-15-110.
(10) 'Covered
voter' means:
(a)
a uniformed-service voter or an overseas voter
who is registered to vote in this State;
(b)
a uniformed-service voter defined in paragraph
(9)(A) whose voting residence is in this State and who otherwise
satisfies this state's voter eligibility requirements;
(c)
an overseas voter who, before leaving the United
States, was last eligible to vote in this State and, except for
a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state's
voter eligibility requirements;
(d)
an overseas voter who, before leaving the United
States, would have been last eligible to vote in this State had
the voter then been of voting age and, except for a state
residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state's voter
eligibility requirements; or
(e)
an overseas voter who was born outside the
United States, is not described in subitem (c) or (d), and,
except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies
this state's voter eligibility requirements, if:
(i)
the last place where a parent or legal guardian
of the voter was, or under this article would have been,
eligible to vote before leaving the United States is within this
State; and
(ii)
the voter has not previously registered to vote
in any other state.
(11)
'Dependent' means an individual recognized as a
dependent by a uniformed service.
(12)
'Federal postcard application' means the application
prescribed under Section 101(b)(2) of the Uniformed and Overseas
Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 1973ff(b)(2).
(13)
'Federal write-in absentee ballot' means the ballot
described in Section 103 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens
Absentee Voting Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 1973ff-2.
(14)
'Military-overseas ballot' means:
(a)
a federal write-in absentee ballot;
(b)
a ballot specifically prepared or distributed
for use by a covered voter in accordance with this article;
or
(c)
a ballot cast by a covered voter in accordance
with this article.
(15)
'Overseas voter' means a United States citizen who
resides outside the United States.
(16)
'Uniformed service' also means:
(a)
active and reserve components of the Army, Navy,
Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States;
(b)
the Merchant Marine, the commissioned corps of
the Public Health Service, or the commissioned corps of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United
States; or
(c)
the National Guard or organized militia;
(17)
'Uniformed-service voter' means an individual who is
qualified to vote and is:
(a)
a member of the active or reserve components of
the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the
United States who is on active duty;
(b)
a member of the Merchant Marine, the
commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, or the
commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration of the United States;
(c)
a member on activated status of the National
Guard or organized militia; or
(d)
a spouse or dependent of a member referred to in
this item."
SECTION 3. The provisions of this act are severable. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, item, subitem, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of the act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, item, subitem, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, items, subitems, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.