A civil rights organization wants South Carolina to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver’s licenses
Computer glitch could keep 1,900 teens from voting in South CarolinaBy JEFFREY COLLINSAssociated PressThe Associated PressCOLUMBIA, S.C.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A civil rights organization wants South Carolina to reopen voter registration for nearly 1,900 teens after the state Department of Motor Vehicles failed to notify election officials that they checked the box to register as they got their driver’s licenses.
The teens were 17 at the time they went to the DMV, but would be 18 by Election Day. A glitch in the DMV’s computers did not identify the teens as qualified and did not present them with an additional electronic form certifying they were citizens, not felons and otherwise qualified to vote.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit Tuesday, a day after early voting started in South Carolina. They provided several possible ways the teens could register and be allowed to cast ballots and Judge Daniel Coble promised a ruling later Friday after hearing arguments.
“This is a case about a fundamental constitutional right,” ACLU lawyer Allen Chaney said. “First time voters are going to be wrongfully excluded from a historic election.”
But lawyers for the South Carolina Election Commission, the SCDMV, the General Assembly and the Governor’s Office all argued while they were sympathetic toward teens who might miss their first shot at voting for president it was just too late to solve registration problems with county election offices busy running early voting.
The potential voters have to be identified, checked that they are eligible and added to rolls. “None of this can happen before this general election,” state Election Commission lawyer Michael Burchstead said.
Around 6,000 additional teens affected by the glitch were still able to register after check and seeing the process wasn’t complete and they weren’t on the rolls, including the 17-year-old who exposed the problem and notifying his mom, who then let a Democratic lawmaker now what was going on, prompting the lawsuit.
Lawyers for the state said some burden should have been placed on the teens to make sure they were able to vote before the registration deadline earlier this month.
The ACLU said being first time voters, they may not have been aware that clicking on a box that said “yes, I wish to register” meant they would not be registered.
“They were not successfully registered and will not find out until Election Day,” Chaney said.
Judge Coble said he understood the time crunch and would rule as soon as possible. In the first four days of early voting in South Carolina, more than 511,000 votes have been cast or about 15% of all eligible voters.
Coble ruled earlier this month to extend the registration deadline for about a week because of widespread damage and power outages from Hurricane Helene. He pointed out from the bench Friday that was “an act of God, not an act of man,”
The DMV has worked with the ACLU to try to determine the scope of the problem. They had to individually review every application that fit under the guidelines to see if the teen checked the box to register to vote.
And the lawyers for the state all said they would work to make sure it didn’t happen again
“We share with the ACLU the goal of free, fair, safe and secure elections,” said Kevin Hall, a lawyer for South Carolina Senate President Thomas Alexander.
