(Columbia-AP) May 27, 2004 -- For a while Thursday, the Senate gave final approval to a bill that would ban recognition of gay marriages in South Carolina. It turned out to be a procedural error, but it still took about 30 minutes for Senate Democrats to get Republicans to agree to reconsider the successful voice vote.

Charleston Senator Robert Ford had handed a note to the Senate's clerk's staff that would have held up the vote. But, the note didn't reach the clerk before the bill was amended to include the gay marriage ban by Spartanburg Senator Jim Ritchie.

Ritchie apologized to Ford later, saying he was not trying to mislead the body. Ford said that type of thing is one of the reasons it's important to pay attention in the waning hours of the legislative session, which ends next week.

Posted 11:52pm by BrettWitt