SC Should Get Ahead on Election Reform

Photo courtesy The Sun

As election chaos reigns supreme in selected states, states like South Carolina get a warm, comforting feeling because they aren’t on the national stage for irregularities or incompetence. Both elected officials and our citizenry should NOT be comfortable.

As I wrote recently in The Standard, election reform should be among the top priorities for a more Republican and more conservative SC state legislature. Statewide, as a whole, the electorate in the state is making a very slight move towards Democrats as it follows a trend of suburbs becoming increasingly liberal while rural areas become more conservative. The population gains favor suburbs in the mathematical competition.

No matter the preferred party, streamlining our state’s elections should be a priority. Had our November 3rd election been close, you would see obvious flaws. Just in the midlands where I live, the counties were counting different kinds of votes at different times and deciding to count votes with different standards. SC can be ahead of the curve, but must take certain steps before they are behind it.

Below is an example of election fraud taking place in Georgia captured on a security camera.

 

Put the Secretary of State in charge of elections. In SC, the elected Secretary of State has very limited functions. The state can join most other states by putting elections in the hands of the office. This would also take away (at least in principle) the power of the SC Election Commission, which is elected by the same antiquated system as much of the state’s bureaucracy.

Should the Secretary take charge of elections, the best idea would be for it to be a part of the governor’s cabinet as an appointment. This would be a professional position that should require specific expertise with qualifications for the office. Whether it is elected or not, put the Secretary of State over our elections.

Uniformity in each county. As I mentioned, counties were operating on different, self-determined procedures on election day. On election night, some counties chose to tabulate only votes from in-person voters, some also added early in-person voters and some added absentee mail-in votes too… or a mixture of those of some sort. This isn’t the way. There were mail-in ballots that apparently just hung out somewhere in a room before they were counted the day after the election.

The legislature must set policies into law that county election boards must follow a set of standards and then it is up to election boards to follow the standards as prescribed by law.

Mail-in ballot reform. While Democrats have continuously moved towards mail-in ballots over the years, Republicans have let a slippery slope slide further. Democrats made overwhelming mail-in voting a reality during COVID-19 and the GOP aided them to their own demise. Election Day has become Election Months, with the start of voting beginning before there are debates, forums, etc. and ending now days after the election without any consequence.

There is no reason for votes to be received and uncounted. Those votes should be counted and securely stored. Those votes should be applied immediately when the polls close on election day. No excuses. A hard deadline for those votes must be applied.

Satellite voting standards. The larger, Democrat-favored counties got in on the early satellite voting years ago. This election, what satellite voting showed was that voters had already voted by the second half of election day, when lines were bare.

The legislature must get ahold of this instead of willy-nilly access for voting. Regardless of which county it is, there must be satellite voting based on population per county. Many counties and legislators have been caught off guard, and there must be equal representation.

Trust in elections are a must at all levels, not just the presidency. Please contact your officials to ensure this trust happens.

 

Political and Policy analyst Preston Baines can be reached on Twitter/Parler @prestonbaines and prestonbaines@gmail.com.

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