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Will the June election be honest?

Posted: May 14, 2014 - 12:22am

On June 10, we will have state primary elections for both Democrats and Republicans; this we know for sure. What we don’t know, and what many are worried about, is if the actual voting and election process will work honestly and smoothly the way it is supposed to.


Our state’s problems with elections and voting have been of two types: Expanding laws that have allowed more and more people to vote, and the election system operations that made it more difficult — intentionally or unintentionally — for people to actually cast an honest ballot and have it honestly counted.

Let’s start with history. Whether some will admit it or not, our state has a long and ugly history of spending a lot of time, energy and even blood, keeping people from voting. In the colonial era, voting was limited to white males who owned substantial property, which in those days was probably less than 15 percent of the state’s population.

In the next 350 years or so, we have expanded the voter pool, but many times went backward with more restrictions as opposed to moving forward and following a consistent pattern of progress.

The first big change was a reduction in the property requirement and then after the Civil War, the biggest expansion of all — at least for a while — came when African-Americans got the right to vote. But by 1876, we began to revert to past history and virtually the entire black population was quickly excluded from voting.

In the early 20th century, we moved forward again when women got the right to vote, but it came about by the actions of the federal government and not the state government.

The second wave of enfranchisement of African-Americans came with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Again, it took a federal action that was fought long and loud by virtually every white politician and civic leader in the South at the time.

In recent years, the legal barriers to more people voting — and the attempts by many to make legal voters ineligible to vote — have continued with all sorts of new and different legal devices. The most recent is the so called “voter ID” law that makes it more difficult for some people to vote by requiring new and special forms of identification.

In trying to understand this controversy, two facts explain it all: The majority of current voters who are negatively impacted by voter ID are old, African-American and students (i.e., heavy Democratic voters), and according to the S.C. Election Commission, there has not been a single case of voter fraud that voter ID purports to stop “in decades.”

In the post-Reconstruction era when Democrats were in charge and African-Americans voted Republican, Democrats rigged the elections against blacks. Today in South Carolina, with Republicans in charge, and African-Americans voting overwhelming Democratic, Republicans are trying to rig the elections against blacks.

It’s all about partisan and racial politics: Now, voter ID is all about Republicans trying to keep Democrats from voting. Folks can claim otherwise, but it just ain’t so.

The second set of problems relates to the voting system itself. Can candidates have fair access to being on the ballot? Can people vote in a reasonable amount of time? Are the ballots counted fairly and reported promptly?

These are all pretty basic questions. Can we make democracy work properly or are we going to be more like a banana republic where the political power structure and corrupt insiders control the process for their own advantage?

Unfortunately, recent history here in South Carolina is pretty shameful about these issues as well.

Let’s start with the last election. Amazingly, almost 250 candidates were thrown off the ballot because of a legal technicality about where they filed a certain piece of paper. Though it affected Democrats and Republicans, the apparent truth is this was purely manipulation by corrupt insider politicians — of both parties — that kept challengers to incumbents off the ballot.

There are dozens of other issues about how we run our elections that determine how well our democracy works. A recent authoritative study by the Pew Charitable Trust Election Initiative tells a pretty sorry story about South Carolina. The study measured 17 criteria for open, fair and efficient elections across all 50 states. This is what they found for South Carolina:

Our overall score was 65 percent out of 100 and we were ranked 25th among the states.

We are getting better, as in the last two elections prior to 2012, we were in the bottom 25 percent of states and now we are at the middle.

The recent online voter registration procedures have been a big positive.

We do not require a post-election audit of returns.

People who have disabilities or illness issues have a very difficult time voting.

In short, the results are mixed. We continue to have real problems based on the legacy of racial discrimination and a system of partisan plantation politics that corrupts the system. On the other hand, we are making some progress.

A few years ago, a book entitled “Democracy Rising” was published about the ongoing struggle for racial and political equality in South Carolina since 1865. Our recent history and the Pew study are clear.

Though we are rising, we are still nowhere near where we should be.

Phil Noble can be reached at phil@scnewdemocrats.org or go to www.SCNewDemocrats.org.

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lethal 05/15/14 - 10:45 am
Who has a history of voter fraud Phil????

Nice to see you admit that old/new democrats (the defeated slave nation democrat politicians) retook the congress in 1876. They went to the supreme court and had the civil rights act 1874 (passed by republican's along with the 13th and 14th amendments and dozens of civil rights bills) found unconstitutional.
In 1964 Al Gores dad lead the filibuster against the same civil rights act repealed 90 years earlier. To quote LBJ "Thank God for the republicans" for the passage of the 1964 civil rights act. It had little support from democrat segregationist.
So Phil history has proven repeatedly that with the use of the democrat groups like the black panthers and the KKK voter suppression is and will always be a democrat practice.
Voter ID is needed to stop the dead people (that vote 100% democrat....what a surprise) from voting along with those who broke our laws by illegally crossing the border.
You need an ID to attend a democrat convention, cash a check, board a plane, and vote in a large number of states. That includes Obozo's state of Illinois.
So blaming a republican state for something democrats have perfected (voter fraud) is the height of hypocrisy.

psychoskin 05/16/14 - 08:46 am
Whatever Phil...

Voter fraud, while not "rampant" IS an issue, and a simple, government-issued ID that was required to partake in vote would help curb that.

You need IDs to cash checks, get services, hunt, drive, drink...heck, even to get a book out of a library. Why on earth are some whiners out there so concerned with having to have one in order to vote??

Old? Black? Students? Got news for you; you need an ID to get into college, get your loans, etc. Again, why the protest of voter ID cards?

"People who have disabilities or illness issues have a very difficult time voting." Really? Then they need to PREPARE themselves to get to the voting booth, or make arrangements to vote if they so choose.

Regardless of what you think, EVERYONE who is capable of, and allowed to, vote CAN. Keeping people who DON'T have that right is why actions must be taken to prevent voter fraud and thus allowing someone to become elected wrongfully.

heron55 05/16/14 - 08:48 am

Phil is one of those that convicts people on their past, which is not allowed in any court room. He wants to convict SC, but ignores fraud in other states. If there are any laws broken in present elections should be the focus and having photo ID is our way of ensuring honest elections.

Maybe he should go back in time when US troops were murdering whole villages of American Indians, women and children included. Now that should have been unlawful.

9mmhipchick 05/16/14 - 12:23 pm
Voter Fraud

Voter fraud is run amok in this country. Yes SC has voter ID laws which prevents voter fraud. The states that do not have voter ID laws are the states with unfathomable voter fraud. Obama won two elections because of voter fraud. True The Vote Organization has audited voter rolls and in some cases got the Attorney Generals of 26 states to remove those voters from the voter rolls. States issuing drivers licenses to illegals is unlawful and those illegals use that drivers license to obtain employment and vote. Voting use to be a freedom American citizens had but when illegals, dead people, and voting more then once occurs it affects American citizens votes.

Phil, the Board of Elections has allowed churches and non profits issue voter IDS for free. How is that suppressing voting in SC? Time to stop using the racial card it is becoming hum-drum.

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