Senators CAMPSEN proposes the following amendment (SFGF-38.BC0006S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by adding appropriately numbered SECTIONS to read:

SECTION X. Section 5-15-120 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 5-15-120. (A) Immediately upon the closing of the polls at any municipal election, the managers shall count publicly the votes cast and make a statement of the whole number of votes cast in such election together with the number of votes cast for each candidate for mayor and councilman and transmit this information to the municipal election commission. In partisan elections the person securing the highest number of votes for mayor shall be declared elected and the councilmen shall be selected by the following methods:
  (a)(1) When all councilmen are to be elected at large, the persons receiving the highest number of votes in number equal to the number to be chosen shall be declared elected.
  (b)(2) When the councilmen are to be elected from each ward and are required to be residents of that ward, the person receiving the highest number of votes in that ward shall be declared elected.
  (c)(3) When some councilmen are to be elected from each ward and required to be residents of that ward and the remainder of the councilmen to be elected at large, those persons receiving the highest number of votes in each ward shall be declared elected and those persons running at large who receive the highest number of votes in number equal to the number to be chosen at large shall be declared elected.
  (d)(4) When all councilmen are to be elected at large, but required to reside in a particular ward, the person receiving the highest number of votes for the seat to be filled shall be declared elected.
  (e)(5) When all councilmen are to be elected at large, but some are required to be residents of particular wards and other councilmen may not be so required, the person receiving the highest number of votes for the seat to be filled shall be declared elected.
 (B) Newly elected officers shall not be qualified until at least forty-eight hours after the closing of the polls and in the case a contest is finally filed the incumbents shall hold over until the contest is finally determined.A municipal governing body may by ordinance determine when the terms of its newly elected officers begin, provided the terms must begin no earlier than forty-eight hours after the certification of the election results and no later than eighty days after the day of the election. If a municipality does not have an ordinance determining when the terms of its newly elected officers begin, then the terms of the newly elected officers in the municipality begin at the start of the first regular meeting of its council in the month following the election.
 (C) A candidate who is declared elected by certification of the election results has the right to take the oath of office and to perform the duties of the office pending the outcome of a contest unless a court of competent jurisdiction directs otherwise.

SECTION X. Section 7-3-25(B) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 (B) If a county board of voter registration and elections or a municipal election commission does not or cannot determine and certify the results of an election or referendum for which it is responsible by the time set for certification by applicable law, the responsibility to determine and certify the results is devolved upon the State Election Commission.

Renumber sections to conform.

Amend title to conform.