By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | South Carolina will spend $51 million on new voting machines before the 2020 presidential primaries, but voting advocate Lynn Teague warns the new machines will lead to longer lines.
It’s a claim that S.C. Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire didn’t dispute.
“We’ve added paper in the most efficient way we can. Adding paper to the process is going to take more time than the way we vote now,” he said. “Voting with a paper component is going to take more time … (but) I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal.”
Teague, who is vice president at the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, cited multiple issues with the new electronic machines, which will produce a printed, marked ballot that is then fed into a vote-tabulating machine.
Whitmire said the ExpressVote machines will offer new transparency for the state. Each printed ballot will be captured by scanners, and a picture of all ballots will be available through the commission website. Voters will have a chance to review their ballot selections before feeding it into the scanner, which reads a non-encrypted barcode on the ballot. Whitmire said any barcode reader can read the barcode.
Whitmire said S.C. voters will find the touchscreen vote selector “very familiar.”
The state election panel unanimously selected the Election Systems and Software’s ExpressVote voting system. The new machines will replace the state’s aging paperless system that has been in place since 2004.
“This system will not only provide voters with a dependable system for years to come, but it will also greatly enhance the security and resilience of our election process.,” election commission Executive Director Marci Andino said in a statement this week.
The purchase has come under scrutiny due to ES&S’s courting of Andino, who once served on a panel of elections directors with the company, and was given plane fare and hotel stays for her participation. In February, Whitmire called it “insulting” to think Andino’s decision was “affected by a plane ticket and a hotel room to learn about our voting system.”
- Read our February coverage on the state’s rush to replace its voting machines and the election commission’s response to the controversy.
- For more on South Carolina’s new statewide voting system, click here.
In other news:
Medicaid, pensions eat up state budgets. A new report from Pew Trusts shows most state budgets are being consumed by Medicaid and pension expenses, while spending on education, infrastructure, state employees and local governments has not returned to pre-recession levels. Read the report here.
Education funding model explored. S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Executive Director Frank Rainwater gave a presentation to the S.C. Education Oversight Committee this week on the state’s funding model for public education. The presention went over the complicated way the state doles out money to districts. Rainwater’s office issued an education funding model report in May, with the intention of looking at ways to reform how the state funds education. Read it here. To see the archived video of Rainwater’s presentation this week, click here (“Monday, June 10, 2019 1:00 p.m. SC Education Oversight Committee”).
Ad hoc panel to study Department of Corrections. A House Legislative Oversight ad hoc committee will begin studying the S.C. Department of Corrections with a meeting at 10:30 a.m. June 18 in room 110 of the Blatt building. Read the agenda here.
Platts tapped to lead arts agency. Lancaster County educator David Platts has been named executive director of the S.C. Arts Commission effective July 1. The commission provides grants, directs programs and forges partnerships in the areas of arts education, artist development and community arts development. Read more.
National survey reflects 2020 black voter priorities. The Black Economic Alliance, a nonpartisan group founded by black executives and business leaders, released results of a nationwide survey focused exclusively on economic priorities for black Americans. A few takeaways:
- Nearly three-quarters for black Americans say they are dissatisfied with the economic situation for black Americans today;
- A large majority (81 percent) of black Americans say it is hard to achieve the American Dream;
- An overwhelming majority (82 percent) of black Americans say they disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as president. In the survey, 63 percent of respondents identifying as independent or Republican said they disapprove of Trump; and,
- More than two-thirds of respondents said they were comfortable with or enthusiastic with former Vice President Joe Biden should he win the Democratic nomination; Bernie Sanders came in at 58 percent, followed by Kamala Harris at 47 percent.
- Read the executive summary of the survey here.
2020 candidate calendar
Throughout the campaign season, we are working to keep South Carolina informed of candidate events in the state. Have an event you want us to know about? Email us at 2020news@statehousereport.com. In the coming days:
- O’Rourke: Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke will spend three days in South Carolina next week. On June 14, O’Rourke will host a town hall with the Gullah Geechee Nation. On June 15, he will host a criminal justice town hall in North Charleston, a town hall in Columbia and another town hall in Sumter. On June 16, O’Rourke is scheduled to attend church services in Spartanburg followed by a town hall in Greenville. Read more.
- Booker: Meet U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., will be at a meet-and-greet 4 p.m. June 15 at Dellz Uptown in Charleston. Event info.
- On TV: The Black Economic Alliance will host a presidential forum noon to 4 p.m. June 15 for some Democratic candidates at the Charleston Music Hall. Candidates who will appear include Booker, O’Rourke, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Tickets required, but free. To be aired on BET.
- Clyburn’s World Famous Fish Fry: Many of the Democrats vying for the presidential nomination will stop in at Congressman James Clyburn’s annual World Famous Fish Fry June 21. It’s free and open to the public. More information here.
- State Democratic Convention: On June 22, the S.C. Democratic Party will have its annual state convention. At least 19 of the 23 declared Democratic presidential hopefuls are signed up to speak. Read more.
- Planned Parenthood abortion forum: On June 22, 11 Democratic presidential hopefuls will participate in Planned Parenthood Action Fund forum, which will start at 10 a.m. at the University of South Carolina campus. Read more.
Looking ahead
Click below for other items coming up in the Statehouse:
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
Lindsay, This is a $50 million unverifiable voting system that may well be ruled unconstitutional in federal court within a year or so. See this:
https://voterga.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/press-release-south-carolina-commission-to-spend-50-million-in-unverifiable-voting-system.pdf
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