Not Everyone Happy With Election Reform Bill

Not everyone is a fan of the election reform measure which passed yesterday. Senate Bill 2, which was written in response to the ballot controversy in 2012, was heralded by its supporters as a mechanism that would prevent a repeat of last year's debacle.

Among other things, critics of S.2 say it takes the power to run primaries away from the parties and puts it in the hands of county election commissions.

Jim Lee, Greenville County Republican Party State Executive Committeeman, issued the following statement to Patch:

·The legislation goes ridiculously beyond that which was requested or required to fix what was simply two statutes that were in conflict with one another and a lack of accurate education of the county parties by their respective state-level organizations 

·The legislation is arguably unconstitutional as it erects virtually unattainable thresholds for party nomination by convention while retaining the open primary method of nominations; the 1st Amendment right to freedom of assembly by private political party organizations are effectively usurped by the state [see  3(A)(1), 3(A)(2), 3(B), 3(C)]

·The legislation burdens the State Election Commission and the 46 County Election Commissions with additional responsibilities that rightly belong to and ought to be fulfilled by the private state and county party organizations

·Fiduciary responsibilities to collect and manage filing fees

·Embroiling needlessly the independent, non-partisan election officials in a legitimate partisan activity of certifying receipt of party pledges

·Staffing and managing the filing process.

·The legislation effectively neuters and renders irrelevant the county and state parties and provides further intrusion by the state legislature/government into the legitimate functions of the state/county parties and their business.

·Republicans who voted for this legislation and yet publicly call themselves Republicans have some serious explaining to do.

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