High court reinstates S. Carolina ballot witness requirement

The Supreme Court has reinstated a requirement that South Carolina voters using absentee ballots in November’s election get a witness to sign their ballots

Election 2020 Senate South Carolina (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a requirement that South Carolina voters using absentee ballots in November’s election get a witness to sign their ballots.

Democrats had sought to have the requirement put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic but Republicans had defended it as deterring fraud.

While the high court reinstated the requirement for now, it said that any ballots cast before the court's action Monday evening “and received within two days of this order may not be rejected for failing to comply with the witness requirement.”