COLUMBIA, S.C.
A South Carolina proposal to require third-party candidates to pay a filing fee to get on the ballot cleared a House Judiciary Committee panel Thursday after bipartisan support from Democratic and Republican party leaders.
That same four-member group also agreed to forward a proposal filed by House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, to require uniformity on the county election level and also to expand the make up of the State Election Commission board, from five to nine members. The speaker’s original bill proposed eight.
State law requires candidates of the two major political parties in South Carolina to pay a filing fee to get on the ballot — for instance, $208 to run for a state House seat and $416 for a Senate seat — and the money is later sent to the State Election Commission to help offset costs of running state primary elections.
Third-party candidates don’t fall under the same rule.
That can be a “big burden” to state parties, said state Rep. Brandon Newton, R-Lancaster, who spoke in favor of House Bill 3262, sponsored by state Rep. Russell Fry, R-Horry. As opposed to a party primary, third-party candidates, who are nominated by their party’s convention, can avoid paying those fees.
As an example, U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Jaime Harrison and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham each had to pay a $10,440 candidate filing fee. Third-party candidate Bill Bledsoe, who dropped out and endorsed Graham’s bid against Harrison, did not.
“Most people do not realize the paperwork” that is actually required of the two big state parties to get candidates on the ballot, said Trav Robertson, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. “The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are essentially paying for the election process in the state of South Carolina through these filing fees. And we believe that if other organizations wish to run candidates, that those parties should be required, or those candidates should be required to pay the same filing fee as the Republican candidates and the Democratic candidates.”
But third parties, such as the Libertarian Party, argue that third-party candidates are not typically well financed and lack huge donors.
While that may not be a huge issue for a State House race, a $10,000 price tag to run for Congress is pretty steep, said Sean Thornton, chair of South Carolina’s Libertarian Party, which has about 250 dues-paying members but more than 2,000 overall.
“We’ve always been told by the SEC (State Election Commission) that the filing fees pay for primaries,” Thornton said.
“We don’t” have primaries, he added.
Thornton said the bill comes off as a way to punish Bledsoe, but will also make it “harder for others” willing to run.
“The obvious purpose is to try to hurt the other parties and we don’t need that. We should be protecting our other parties, not destroying them,” Bledsoe said. “They’re shooting themselves in the foot.”
A House Judiciary subcommittee adopted the bill in a 3-0 vote, with state Rep. John King, D-York, listed as not voting.
Saying his vote did not mean he was against the proposal, King plans to offer an amendment when the bill reaches the full committee.
In the hearing Thursday, King questioned why any candidate should have to pay a filing fee to get on the ballot, saying that excludes many South Carolinians who want to run for office.
Panel OKs bill to expand election board
The speaker’s bill — House Bill 3444 — easily cruised through the same panel Thursday.
Calling it an “extremely important” bill, Lucas said his proposal was born out of last year’s election and the subsequent litigation filed against the state over the request to further expand voting by removing the witness signature requirement to keep people from contracting COVID-19.
Lucas said the proposal that not only expands the election board but also gives the House and Senate say over four of the board’s members — appointments neither the speaker and president have ability to name right now — was not meant to be critical of anyone.
However, some State House and party leaders became frustrated with the State Election Commission last year after its director, Marci Andino, sent a letter to leaders asking the Legislature to, in part, remove the witness signature requirement to help ensure voter safety.
“South Carolina did what I think was an exemplary job in holding elections in this state,” Lucas said.
Under a change made to the bill Thursday, the board would be expanded to nine members, giving the governor appointments over five of the members, four of whom must be of the governor’s same political party. The bill also says that two of those five members must be appointed to a two-year term and the remaining three must be appointed to a four-year term.
The Senate president and the House speaker would each be allowed to appoint two members. One appointee from each leader would have to represent the largest minority party in the chamber.
Susan Dunn, legal director for South Carolina’s American Civil Liberties Union, agreed with the speaker Thursday.
Testifying virtually, Dunn said there are sometimes inconsistencies on the county level, particularly how one county office handles registration of ex-offenders. This change, she said, would give the State Election Commission to take some leadership in that area.
Regarding the proposed elections board changes, however, Dunn voiced no concern over the new board make up, but she did as that Independents be counted.
“The fact that the Independent voter is more and more important in the civic life of South Carolina,” Dunn said.
The Governor’s Office told The State Wednesday it looks forward to working with House members to “perfect the bill.”
“And get it to a place where both he and the General Assembly can support it,” said McMaster’s spokesman, Brian Symmes.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 11:13 AM.
