S.C. House Republicans stack the deck against voters

The odds that you will wait in longer lines to vote increased last week because of the actions of Republicans on the S.C. House Judiciary Committee.

The committee was considering a bill that would have allowed 12 days of early voting for all South Carolinians. Instead, the Republicans shortened the early-voting period to three days and eliminated in-person absentee voting entirely, requiring all absentee voting to be done on antiquated, burdensome paper ballots.

The committee's Republican majority acted against common sense and the recommendations of non-partisan election officials from across the state. If they succeed, they will add hundreds of thousands of dollars of costs into the election process without providing a dime to pay for it and at a time when every state agency is losing funding.

During hearings, members of the South Carolina Association of Registration and Election Officials testified that mailing ballots on paper is the most costly and most error-prone method of voting. They asked House members to broaden the period for citizens to vote in person, saying early voting reduces their agencies' costs and voters' waiting time.

Voting is one of our most basic rights as Americans. The goal of House Democrats has been to enhance that right. House Republicans are gambling that they will improve their chances in future elections by stacking the deck against the elderly, the infirm and the many of us working long hours with little flexibility to vote on the final election day.

Last fall's record turnout of 1.9 million voters was no fluke. More than 334,000 South Carolinians voted last fall through an absentee ballot, most of them by going to an election commission office and voting in person on a machine that is easy to use and better able to avoid errors.

House Republicans are trying to take that away. Their bill flushes away current law that allows voting as early as 30 days before an election, if a voter has one of more than a dozen excuses. Permissible excuses include being sick or elderly, working on Election Day or being out of town on Election Day.

Those excuses will still allow you to vote early, but only if you are able to follow a bureaucratic maze of applying for, receiving and returning a paper ballot. Yes, some can do this. But we should be working together to expand access and make it easier for the people of South Carolina to vote. Indeed, many of South Carolina's bravest serving in the military to protect our rights overseas are themselves effectively disenfranchised because this antiquated system of mail-in absentee ballots cannot travel back and forth from the war zone in time for the ballots to count.

With the hands being dealt by House Republicans, many more voters will lose their chance to vote. As early voting is curtailed, more pressure will land on election offices in the last days before an election.

As lines lengthen, many voters will have to choose between voting and their other responsibilities — from getting to work on time to picking up their children. Some voters will simply not have the stamina for the longer waits. The longer the line, the more likely it is that you will drop out.

And House Republicans are betting on it.

James E. Smith Jr. , a Democrat, represents Richland County in the S.C. House of Representatives.