On January 28, the South Carolina Senate passed SB 590, after amending it in committee. The bill makes ballot access changes for independent candidates. Some of the changes are beneficial and some are restrictive.
The bill lowers the number of signatures for a statewide independent, and for a U.S. House independent, from 10,000 signatures to 4,000. For state legislature and county office, the petition would be lowered from 5% of the registered voters to 3%.
On the other hand, the bill imposes a primary screen-out. If anyone signs the petition and then votes in a primary that same year, the signature is void.
Also, the bill says that signatures may not be collected more than six months before the petition deadline. The petition deadline remains July 15. Also, the bill says that no one may sign for more than one independent candidate. And, the bill says independent candidates must file a declaration of candidacy no later than primary day. Finally, the bill says that no one may sign an independent candidate’s petition unless he or she had been registered for at least 30 days.
Parts of the bill would be held unconstitutional. In 1970 the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a 3-judge U.S. District Court opinion that said that it is unconstitutional to restrict newly-registered voters from signing a petition. Also, the part of the bill that requires an independent candidate to file a declaration of candidacy by the primary date would not be constitutional as applied to independent presidential candidates. South Carolina presidential primaries are very early, and in 2008 were in January. Anderson v Celebrezze, a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision, said state laws requiring independent presidential candidates to declare earlier than the summer of a presidential election year are unconstitutional.
The bill now goes to the South Carolina House.
