Senate Moves Quickly to Correct Ballot Confusion

While 2012 was chock full of electoral intrigue in South Carolina, _the longest-running story was undoubtedly the controversy that led to hundreds of candidates being thrown off of ballots_. Lawsuits were filed throughout the year, from just after the Supreme Court’s ruling in May up to just weeks before Election Day in November_.

Many of the candidates initially thrown off eventually made it back on to ballots via petition, but not after expending significant time and money. It’s believed that only two of the petition candidates ended up victorious.

The controversy was another blow to South Carolina’s national reputation as a place where in politics “anything goes.” The magazine The Nation named the ballot mess one of the most underreported stories of 2012.

Inside the state, the public’s confidence in elected officials eroded even further.

While not much can be done in the short term to restore public perception, numerous state legislators said correcting the confusion over filing was a top priority.

The problems created by the ballot mess stemmed from confusion over filing two forms—a Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) and a Statement of Intention for Candidacy (SIC). The Supreme Court ruled that candidates needed to provide physical copies of the forms, even if they had filed online. And both forms needed to be presented simultaneously.

Last week, a bill clarifying the filing process easily made it out of the Judiciary Committee by vote of 19-1. Lee Bright (R-12) was the only dissenting vote.

The Equal Access to the Ballot Act, as it is formally known, will require both incumbents and challengers to submit physical copies of both the SEI and the SIC to a representative of their county’s Election Commission or of their county representative of their party. If the candidate does not have both forms, the party representative cannot accept the application. If both forms are provided, the representative would then have to complete a checklist to certify a candidate.

View the bill here.

Sen. Chip Campsen (R-43) was one of the co-sponsors of the bill. He told the South Carolina Radio Network that, ““The design here is just to address with a rifle shot… this issue that knocked 250 people off the ballot.”

Few candidates were as affected by the ballot mess as Sen. Katrina Shealy (R-23). Her opponent, former Sen. Jake Knotts, filed the suit that first brought the election into the courtroom. She overcame the odds and ousted Knotts, a fixture in Lexington County politics for decades.

“We want to make sure everyone is on a level playing field, Shealy said. “One of the ways to do that is to make sure everyone files in the same place. So, whether it’s the county election headquarters or the county offices for the party, that’s what we want to do.”

Shealy believes the bill has a good chance of passing and getting to the governor’s desk quickly “This problem affected everyone, not just Republicans and not just Democrats,” she said. “People were denied a choice and that resonates with everyone.”

As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Larry Martin (R-2) had the ability to place the bill at the top of the docket. And that’s what he did.

“I have a responsibility for determining the pecking order and this was something that just had to be resolved,” Martin said. “We may do something larger down the road tied to Ethics, but this was a case where we know exactly what the problem is and exactly how to fix it.”

Martin’s opponent in his re-election bid, Rex Rice, was one of the candidates thrown off the ballot who eventually got back on via petition. Pickens County was affected by the controversy as much as any in the state, losing candidates in both the House and Senate.

Martin believes the bill will get through the House without much difficulty. “Well, they’re up for re-election before we are and I know they don’t want to have to deal with this again.”

Should the bill make it ultimately be signed by Gov. Haley it would still need to be approved by the Department of Justice in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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