COLUMBIA — The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) has unlawfully denied young, eligible South Carolinians the opportunity to register to vote, an ACLU of South Carolina inquiry has found.
The full scope of the problem is not yet known, but just in the last 13 months, the SCDMV has unlawfully denied voter registration opportunities to more than 17,000 South Carolinians who were 17 years old at the time but will have reached the legal voting age of 18 by Election Day 2024.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Carolina sued the State Election Commission and SCDMV in Richland County Court today, asking the court to protect the fundamental right to vote. A motion filed with the complaint asks the circuit court to order the Election Commission to add the wrongfully excluded voters to the state’s voter rolls.
“We appreciate SCDMV’s candor and the agency’s willingness to identify the affected voters,” said Allen Chaney, legal director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “I am hopeful that the court will order the Election Commission to add these thousands of young, first-time voters to the voter rolls so that they can cast a ballot on Election Day.”
Under a section of the National Voter Registration Act known as the “Motor Voter” provision, the SCDMV is supposed to provide all customers the opportunity to register to vote when they apply for a new or renewed ID card or driver’s license. And under South Carolina law, 17-year-old citizens may register to vote as long as they turn 18 on or before the next general Election Day and are otherwise qualified to vote.
The SCDMV has failed to provide voter registration opportunities to 17-year-old potential voters for at least the last 22 years.
The ACLU-SC launched its inquiry after hearing reports from State Representative Spencer Wetmore that a constituent had tried and failed to register to vote via the SCDMV when that constituent was 17 years old. This constituent turned 18 in time to vote in the general election, but the registration attempt failed.
The ACLU-SC and ACLU legal team reached out last week to the SCDMV and SEC seeking more information. Initial reports based on queries of an SCDMV database indicate that the failure to register was not an isolated problem, and the SCDMV was not notifying applicants that their attempts to register had failed.
Today’s lawsuit seeks a speedy remedy in time for the November general election on November 5. In the meantime, the ACLU-SC echoes Rep. Wetmore’s call for young voters to double-check the status of their registration via scvotes.gov.
What the Law Says
One, under South Carolina law, individuals who are 17 years old may register to vote and vote in primary elections as long as they (1) will turn 18 on or before the next general election day, and (2) otherwise meet the qualifications for voting (S.C. Code § 7-5-180).
Two, under the National Voter Registration Act and the relevant state law (S.C. Code § 7-5-320(A)(1) ), “Each state motor vehicle driver’s license application … serves as an application for voter registration.” The NVRA is commonly referred to as the “Motor Voter” law. Then-State Attorney General Charlie Condon tried suing to block implementation of the NVRA in 1995, but he lost (see Condon v. Reno).
When a South Carolinian applies for a new or renewed driver’s license or other ID from the SCDMV — whether in person, online, or by phone, mail, or email — the SCDMV must give that person an opportunity to register to vote or update their voter registration. If the customer indicates they want to register or update their voter registration, the SCDMV must transmit that information via the State Election Commission to the county board of elections, usually within 10 days.
When an SCDMV customer fills out a driver’s license or state identification application, Box 5 of the Form 447-NC asks: “Do you want to register to vote in South Carolina with the County Registration Board?” It further instructs that, to register to vote, “[y]ou must be a U.S. citizen, SC resident and meet requirements to register to vote.” Customers are then given an opportunity to check a box to indicate “Yes, I wish to register to vote.”
In most cases, if someone checks “Yes” on this form, they are then prompted to attest to their voter qualifications with an electronic signature, and their information is transferred to the State Election Commission for voter registration. But in the case of 17-year-olds who should have qualified under the South Carolina Constitution, the SCDMV has been failing to provide the electronic signature form and to transmit the information to the SEC.
Questions Remaining
Some questions remain unanswered.
Of the 17,564 individuals who were denied the opportunity to register, 6,240 were able to register to vote by other means. Of those that are not currently registered, it is not yet known how many selected “Yes” on the form indicating that they would like to register to vote. Because this information is not coded electronically in the SCDMV database, a hand count will be required.
Because the SCDMV has been systematically failing to register 17-year-olds for at least 22 years, the total number of potential voters who were denied the chance to register in accordance with the NVRA is not yet known.
For now, the ACLU-SC and ACLU are committed to making sure that young voters are properly notified and given a chance to vote in the November election.
The complaint and motion are available below.
