2022 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 7 - Elections
Chapter 15 - Absentee Registration And Voting
Section 7-15-320. Persons qualified to vote by absentee ballot.

(A) Qualified electors in the following categories who are unable to vote during early voting hours for the duration of the early voting period, and during the hours the polls are open on election day, must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in an election:

(1) persons with employment obligations who present written certification of the obligations to the county board of voter registration and elections;

(2) persons who will be attending sick or physically disabled persons;

(3) persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial; or

(4) persons who are going to be absent from their county of residence.

(B) Qualified electors in the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in an election, regardless of whether the elector is able to vote during early voting hours for the duration of the early voting period, and during the hours the polls are open on election day:

(1) physically disabled persons;

(2) persons sixty-five years of age or older;

(3) members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them; or

(4) persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election, as provided in Section 7-15-330.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 23-442; 1953 (48) 423; 1960 (51) 1598; 1966 (54) 2376; 1975 (59) 815; 1982 Act No. 280, Section 1, eff February 24, 1982; 1984 Act No. 266, Section 7, eff January 27, 1984; 1987 Act No. 130 Section 1, eff June 3, 1987; 1989 Act No. 48, Section 1, eff April 6, 1989; 1989 Act No. 193, Section 2, eff June 20, 1989; 1992 Act No. 489, Section 1, eff July 1, 1992; 1994 Act No. 365, Section 3, eff May 3, 1994; 1995 Act No. 80, Section 1, eff June 12, 1995; 1996 Act No. 434, Section 19, eff June 4, 1996; 1997 Act No. 25, Section 1, eff upon approval (became law without the Governor's signature on May 22, 1997); 2011 Act No. 43, Section 8, eff upon contingency, see editor's note, (approved June 7, 2011); 2014 Act No. 289 (S.825), Pt V, Section 6, eff June 23, 2014; 2022 Act No. 150 (S.108), Section 4, eff May 13, 2022.

Editor's Note

2011 Act No. 43, Sections 1 and 10, provide as follows:

"SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the 'South Carolina Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voters Act'."

"SECTION 10. This act takes effect upon preclearance approval by the United States Department of Justice or approval by a declaratory judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, whichever occurs first." [Preclearance approval received August 22, 2011.]

2020 Act No. 133, Sections 2.A., 2.B., provide as follows:

"SECTION 2.A. A qualified elector must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in an election if the qualified elector's place of residence or polling place is located in an area subject to a state of emergency declared by the Governor and there are fewer than forty-six days remaining until the date of the election.

"B. This SECTION takes effect upon approval by the Governor [May 13, 2020] and expires on July 1, 2020."

2020 Act No. 143, Section 2, provides as follows:

"SECTION 2. A qualified elector must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in an election if the qualified elector's place of residence or polling place is located in an area subject to a state of emergency declared by the Governor and there are fewer than forty-six days remaining until the date of the General Election to be held on November 3, 2020."

Effect of Amendment

2022 Act No. 150, Section 4, rewrote the section.