After public outcry, an emergency lawsuit in state court, and the threat of additional federal litigation, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) finally fixed a policy that prevented close to 2,000 young, first-time voters from participating in the 2024 election.
The DMV was failing to comply with the federal “motor voter” law, a section of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act that requires state motor vehicle agencies to offer voter registration opportunities to people when they apply for a driver’s license.
Last October, more than 30 years after that law went into effect, we learned that the South Carolina DMV was refusing to process voter registration applications on behalf of South Carolinians under the age of 18, even though many were eligible to register to vote because they would turn 18 before the next general election.
In October 2024 the ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit, ACLU-SC v. State Election Commission. The South Carolina NAACP and League of Women Voters of South Carolina continued to press the issue after the election. In a March 26 letter sent via the ACLU of South Carolina, they highlighted the state agencies’ failure to comply with the federal voting law.
In a March 27 letter, the DMV’s general counsel replied that the department had adjusted the settings in its customer management software so that it now captures and transmits voter registration information for individuals age 16 and up. Young voters can now register at the DMV in accordance with state and federal law.
Civil rights leaders respond
"This victory is a powerful reminder that voting rights are for all," said NAACP South Carolina State Conference President Brenda Murphy. "When young people have access to the ballot, they drive real change. Our youth are not only the future — but they have also always been at the forefront of progress in this nation. By protecting their voice at the ballot, we ensure a stronger democracy for generations ahead."
“The League is very pleased that the DMV has responded to our concerns and is giving eligible young voters an opportunity to register to vote, appropriately leaving assessment of eligibility to the State Election Commission,” said Nancy Williams, President of the League of Women Voters of South Carolina. “We also hope that the General Assembly will assist the DMV in funding a modern computer system to ensure the orderly performance of DMV’s responsibilities, including this very important one.”
“I am proud of our advocacy and thankful to the DMV for agreeing to fix the system without additional litigation,” said Allen Chaney, Legal Director of ACLU of South Carolina. “I remain frustrated, however, that state officials fought so mightily against DMV fixing this issue sooner.”
Thousands were denied voter registration opportunities
In the 2024 election cycle alone, the state’s failure to follow federal law denied more than 17,000 young South Carolinians the opportunity to register to vote while they got their driver’s license. Of those, the ACLU of South Carolina found out that close to 2,000 indicated on their DMV form that they wanted to register to vote, left the DMV likely believing they had successfully registered, and yet were never added to the voter rolls or permitted to vote in the historic 2024 election.
The ACLU and ACLU of South Carolina sued the South Carolina DMV and State Election Commission on October 22, 2024, asking the court to order the state to register the nearly 2,000 young first-time voters in time for the 2024 General Election. Lawyers representing both agencies, the governor, the attorney general, the speaker of the House, the president of the Senate, and the South Carolina GOP all appeared in court to argue against registering these voters.
Ultimately, a Richland County Court judge denied the ACLU-SC’s motion for a temporary restraining order, and those potential voters were denied the opportunity to vote in the General Election. But that wasn’t the end of the story.
The March 26 letter from the LWVSC and SC NAACP again notified the agencies that they were out of compliance with the National Voter Registration Act. The letter states, in part:
"We hope you agree to swiftly fix this system. If you do not, or if you adopt SCDMV’s position that 17-year-old registrants must be excluded from the benefits of motor-voter, then we will proceed to litigation.”
The DMV responded with a letter on March 27 indicating that the agency had resolved the problem and that young voters will now be given the opportunity to register as voters. The letter states, in part:
“As of March 11th, we changed Phoenix (our in-house customer management software) to capture and send voter registration information for individuals sixteen (16) and older. The South Carolina State Election Commission (SEC) will determine whether anyone under eighteen (18) would qualify to be a registered voter and register those individuals accordingly. Additionally, the SEC will maintain the information of those ineligible to be registered until the point they become eligible. Our Information Technology department confirmed information of under-18-year-olds was in fact captured in our most recent weekly Motor Voter file and was successfully transmitted to the SEC."
