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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina’s absentee ballot law has been ruled unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the U.S. fourth circuit court of appeals.
The court’s ruling (.pdf) found the Palmetto State’s law – which it referred to as a “scheme” – discriminated against citizens on the basis of age, and as a result partially reversed a prior ruling upholding the law from U.S. district court judge Bruce H. Hendricks.
According to the judges, South Carolina’s existing statutory framework – contained in S.C. Code of Laws § 7-15-320 – creates a “two-tier absentee-by-mail voting system,” one that violates the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Ratified in July 1971, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment holds that “the right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.”
The amendment was approved during the Vietnam War when eighteen year olds were being drafted to serve their country – yet had no say in determining the course of its foreign policy.
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According to fourth circuit judges Roger L. Gregory, Pamela Ann Harris and Julius Ness Richardson, South Carolina’s “scheme” represents an unconstitutional abridging of the right to vote for individuals under the age of sixty-five (65).
Per state law, citizens who are sixty-five or older can vote by absentee mail-in ballot without having to provide any reason for doing so. Those under sixty-five, however, must fall into one of the following four categories…
- Persons with employment obligations who present written certification of the obligations to the county board of voter registration and elections;
- Persons who will be attending sick or physically disabled persons;
- Persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial; or
- Persons who are going to be absent from their county of residence.
“South Carolina’s absentee-by-mail scheme impermissibly abridges the right to vote on account of age,” the court concluded. “By granting voters aged sixty-five and older unconditional access to absentee-by-mail voting while conditioning that same option for younger voters on eligibility categories, documentation, and a rigid deadline, the state allocates voting opportunities unequally based solely on age.”
To be constitutionally compliant, South Carolina must either extend the benefit of “no excuse” absentee-by-mail voting to voters under age sixty-five or remove the the benefit from those under the age of sixty-five.
The fourth circuit ruling differs from decisions reached in the fifth and seventh circuits regarding age-based absentee voting laws in other states – meaning the issue is likely headed to the U.S. supreme court.
In the meantime, the S.C. State Election Commission (SCVotes) made it clear “the rules for absentee voting in South Carolina have not changed” in the aftermath of the fourth circuit’s ruling.
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THE RULING…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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