COLUMBIA, S.C. – The State Election Commission wants potential voters to be aware that the deadline to register to vote in South Carolina is October 8th. It had a voter registration drive Tuesday at the Statehouse.
Tanya Barton of Columbia got a voter registration card that has a photo ID. “I moved down here from New York a couple of years ago and I was registered in a different county and I wanted to make sure I was able to get my voice heard and be able to get a vote out,” she says.
Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire says voters need to bring a photo ID with them to the polls. That can be a South Carolina driver’s license, a South Carolina DMV photo ID, a voter registration card that has a photo, a federal military ID, or a U.S. Passport. “The easiest one to get is the photo voter registration card,” Whitmire says. “All you need to do is go down to your county voter registration office, verbally identify yourself by providing some personal information that they’ll ask you. They’ll take your picture, issue you a photo voter registration card and you’ll be good to go. You can do that at anytime all the way up through Election Day, even on Election Day.”
He says even if you don’t have a photo ID, you can still vote on Election Day, but you’ll need to bring your paper voter registration card and sign an affidavit swearing that you are who you say you are and that there was some impediment to getting a photo ID. You’ll then vote a provisional ballot, which does count unless someone can prove you’re not who you say you are.
To make it easier to register, the Election Commission also has a new phone app. Just look for the MyscVOTES app in the Apple Store on Google play.
You can also register online at http://scvotes.org/