House ponders new vote system

AIKEN - As House members debated the state's budget last week, legislators moved to overhaul South Carolina's election system and domestic violence laws.

A bill sponsored by more than 100 House members, including the entire Aiken County delegation, would take the first step in streamlining and consolidating the way votes are cast and counted in South Carolina.

The bill would require that the State Election Commission adopt a single method of voting for the entire state. Currently, each county can determine its own system - optical scanners, punch cards or a combination of other methods.

Aiken County Elections Director Stuart Bedenbaugh said the price tag of any new state system would be paid almost entirely by federal funds set aside by national legislation that passed after the Florida election fiasco in 2000.

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"I think this is the best possible way for counties, especially large ones like Aiken, to get this accomplished," he said.

Mr. Bedenbaugh said the state will probably move from optical scanner and punch-card systems to a touch-screen system known as DRE, or direct recording electronic. This system would include an audio voting device that allows blind voters to cast their ballots without assistance.

The House Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule a debate on the election system bill.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will first debate a bill filed last week that would reclassify domestic violence acts of a "high and aggravated nature." Even though the bill would change the maximum charge for such acts from a misdemeanor to a felony, it would narrow a judge's options by eliminating the current law's $3,000 fine while keeping the statute's 10-year prison sentence.

In other action, the Senate gave second reading on a bill by Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Clearwater, to expand the state's DNA database to those convicted of felonies and other offenses that carry maximum sentences of five years.

Current law forces those convicted of violent crimes such as murder and some sex crimes to be included in the database.

Reach Matthew Boedy at (803) 648-1395 or matthew.boedy@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Monday, March 17, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle