S*924 Session 107 (1987-1988)
S*0924(Rat #0524, Act #0472 of 1988) General Bill, By Wilson
A Bill 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.
11/23/87 Senate Prefiled
11/23/87 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary
01/12/88 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-224
01/12/88 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-225
02/10/88 Senate Committee report: Favorable Judiciary SJ-12
02/11/88 Senate Read second time SJ-34
02/11/88 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-34
02/17/88 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-15
02/17/88 House Introduced and read first time HJ-1230
02/17/88 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-1230
04/06/88 House Committee report: Favorable Judiciary HJ-2496
04/14/88 House Read second time HJ-2939
04/19/88 House Read third time and enrolled HJ-3025
04/26/88 Ratified R 524
05/02/88 Signed By Governor
05/02/88 Effective date 05/02/88
05/02/88 Act No. 472
05/23/88 Copies available
(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withdrawn, his vote must be received and placed in an envelope on which must be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. |