On April 22, the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee passed HB 3746, which would make it harder for independent candidates to get on the ballot. It would not let primary voters sign for an independent candidate; it would not let newly-registered voters sign for an independent candidate; and it would require independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy in February of election years.
The U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a 3-judge federal court decision from New York in 1970, striking down a law that newly-registered voters couldn’t sign for independent candidates. And the 4th circuit (which includes South Carolina) struck down a February deadline for independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy back in 1990, in Cromer v State, 917 F 2d 819. As to the restriction on primary signers signing for an independent, that would probably be held unconstitutional also. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that ballot access laws that are so difficult that they almost never get used, are probably unconstitutional. South Carolina has never had an independent candidate for U.S. House or U.S. Senate on a government-printed ballot. The state requires 10,000 signatures for an independent candidate for U.S. House.
The sponsor of HB 3746 is Rep. Alan Clemmons (R-Myrtle Beach). An identical bill, SB 590, is pending in the Senate.
