The past year has brought multiple crises – from the continued murder of Black people by law enforcement, to the direct and collateral harms of COVID-19, to systematic efforts to restrict the fundamental right to vote, and more.
Thanks to ACLU supporters like you, we stood ready to face these crises – and we are ready for whatever comes next.
For the rest of this month, we invite you to tune in as we share some of our accomplishments from the past year. While we achieved many successes in 2020, much work remains before we can consider South Carolina a state where We the People means everyone. Thank you for being part of this work.
Read more about this work:
Defending Access to the Polls on Election Day
Whether you vote by mail or in person, no one should limit your access to the ballot. Claims of fraud are all about voter suppression and keeping us from expressing our voice. How and when you vote is your choice.
That’s why this year we worked to ensure that every vote counted. In addition to our wins in the courts and at the legislature, we trained hundreds of South Carolianians from across the state to ensure the integrity of the election on Election Day and during the subsequent certification hearings.
We also trained 135 non-partisan poll monitors who worked out of hubs in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville, and sent trained observers to 43 of the 46 county certification hearings.
Working with partner organizations from across South Carolina, we educated voters (in English and Spanish) about their voting options this year, including the last minute changes to absentee voting.
We hosted two Know Your Rights trainings in the lead up to the election, including a training co-hosted with our partners at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Root & Rebound, SC Progressive Network, and Young Black Lawyers Coalition, to educate voters about the changing absentee voting process. We also co-hosted a training to educate voters about Election Day topics including how to vote, voting safely in a pandemic, what voter suppression looks like as well as how to respond to it, and others.
For the past 50 years, the ACLU of South Carolina has worked to ensure access to the ballot. This year, in the face of one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, we expanded this work to ensure that every vote counted.
