COLUMBIA -- Plans to require better proof of citizenship to register to vote in South Carolina have won an early test in the state Senate and opened the door to a new round of arguments about voting rights.
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Thursday approved a bill that says citizenship proof can come from documents that include a driver’s license, birth certificate, U.S. passport or tribal identification.
The U.S. Justice Department last month rejected a new S.C. law that requires people to show government-issued photographic identification when they vote in person.
Sen. Chip Campsen of the Isle of Palms says the measure is needed to keep people from registering to vote who have lied about being citizens.
Campsen said people who will lie about their citizenship status to get and keep jobs will lie to vote. He said his bill is not just an effort to rehash voter ID law.
“This bill is about determining someone’s citizenship – establishing your citizenship – when you register to vote to make sure that people who are not U.S. citizens do not vote,” Campsen said.
“I can’t think of a more defensible concept,” Campsen said. The citizenship measure cleared the panel with a 2-1 vote and now heads to the full Senate Judiciary Committee.
Columbia Democratic Sen. John Scott voted against the measure. Scott said that bill and others Campsen backs are an effort to keep people from voting.
“This is again about attacking people when they come to the polls and questioning whether they are American citizens and should be able to vote,” Scott said.
And, as he did last year, Scott said he’ll use the voting bills in an effort to create a more open voting system in South Carolina that will allow people to vote.
It’s not the only old business senators are dealing with.
Lawmakers approved a budget that left the state Republican Party responsible for picking up more than half the tab of last week’s presidential primary.
But counties had concerns about what expenses would be covered and sued to make sure their taxpayers weren’t stuck with bills.
After the state Supreme Court said primaries are the state’s responsibility, the state Republican Party backed out of deals to cover more than $500,000 of the primary’s cost. While it had charged most candidates $35,000 to get on the ballot and held fundraisers with them to cover the primary’s tab, the GOP decided instead to pay only $25,000 from each candidate filing fees and said that state laws didn’t allow it to pay the Election Commission for the primary.
Edgefield Republican Sen. Shane Massey filed a bill making it clear that the party can pay. “All I’m trying to do is open up that possibility, which I think creates some pressure on them to do the right thing,” Massey said.
Campsen supported the measure. But Murrells Inlet Republican Sen. Ray Cleary argued the state’s taxpayers should be paying for the presidential primaries and voted against the measure. Scott didn’t vote on the bill so it failed with a 1-1 tie.
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