Bill Giving Sec'y of State Power Over Elections Stalls in Committee

A bill that would have given the Secretary of State authority over elections failed to make it out of committee on Tuesday, stalled by a 12-12 vote.

The bill was an offshoot of the controversy surrounding the elections in Richland County last November. A pair of Richland Republicans, Nathan Ballentine and Kirkman Finlay sponsored the bill along with Alan Clemmons (R-Horry). But only Clemmons serves on the Judiciary Committee, which debated the bill today.

Thousands of voters in Richland County were plagued by lines of up to six hours last Election Day. A subsequent investigation found that Director of Elections Lillian McBride had not sufficiently prepared for the election. McBride resigned in January after accepting full responsibility. She was then given a new job in the county elections office with less authority. More than four months later, McBride’s successor has yet to be named.

Ballentine expressed disappointment that the bill did not advance to the full house, but told Patch he will try to get another committee vote.

“We need to be proactive not reactive in government. I think some members of the committee might feel differently if what happened in Richland happened in their county,” Ballentine said.

The committee’s debate became spirited at times.

Clemmons acknowledged that not all County Election Boards were in favor of the bill, “Change is hard. South Carolina is the only state where counties run the elections and we need to consider that maybe the other states have it right,” he said.

But Walt McLeod (D-Newberry) said the present system, “works pretty well most of the time. It has been helpless with respect to Richland, but there are 45 counties working pretty well.”

Richland County’s Todd Rutherford, the House Minority Leader, voted against the measure. “We know that went wrong in Richland. We knew exactly who was to blame,” Rutherford told Patch. “If the state was involved we would have to spend time trying to figure out who was responsible for Richland County. There are too many elections and they’re too expensive and too important to turn over to the state.”
Locally, Ballentine is attempting to convene the Richland delegation to get the bottom of the search for a new Director of Elections.

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