All of your hard work resulted in us getting a hearing for the election bills filed by Rob Harris H4259, H4260 and H4261. We went to the Blatt building last Thursday and it was a crowded agenda of multiple election bills. We were still able to get our speakers to testify on 2 of the 3 above bills.
Here is a description of the bills:
H.4259 Hand Count Audit Act
https://www.scstatehouse.gov//sess125_2023-2024/prever/4259_20230405.htm
This bill calls for a hand count audit of at least 5 races within 3 precincts of each county and should include one statewide office or question; one federal office; and one countywide or less than countywide office or question
It also allows a county or county chair of a political party to call for an audit up to 22 months after an election (hand count or forensic).
H.4260 Voter Access and Transparency Act
https://www.scstatehouse.gov//sess125_2023-2024/prever/4260_20230405.htm
H 4260 eliminates early voting, calls for a return to paper poll books and gives full observation rights to every citizen to observe all phases of the election process and establishes chain of custody documentation to be recorded for all components of the election systems at all times.
It also removes the 65 and older provision for absentee voting thereby reducing the amount of mail in voting.
Most importantly, it establishes a pilot program for 2024 for at least 3 counties to cast votes on hand-marked paper ballots counted by hand. THE PEOPLE WANT PAPER!
The videos of these are below and the speakers who advocated for these bills were nothing short of excellent. These are a must watch!!!! Special thanks to Lea and Julie for taking the time and driving to Columbia to make this happen!
Hand count Audit Act -Lea Williams Watch now!
Voter Access and Transparency Act-Julie Baker Watch now!
So far these haven’t come out of subcommittee. (The next step would be for them to go to the House Judiciary Committee). In order to track progress on thewse bills download the SC Legislature app to get alerts on the bills.
