South Carolina allows all voters - regardless of party affiliation - to vote in primaries. The S.C. Democratic Party planned to require voters to sign an oath that they are Democrats and that they won't vote in the Republican presidential primary.

But too many voters complained that they wouldn't vote if forced to sign an oath. S.C. Democratic Party officials conceded that the oath was largely meaningless, anyway, because there will be no Republican presidential primary, and anyone signing the oath could still vote for Republicans in any election.

"It wasn't meant to intimidate or restrict access," said Democratic spokeswoman Katherine Miller. "But there was such great confusion, we decided to pull the pledge."

Horry County Democratic Party Chairman Greg McCollum said the state party made the right decision. He said he had problems supporting the pledge himself.

"We want people to vote in this," McCollum said. "We don't need to make people take an oath."

The oath said: "I do solemnly swear that I am a registered voter of this precinct. I consider myself to be a Democrat, and I have not participated in the 2004 presidential nominating process of any other political party."

The party has used a version of the oath since 1976, said S.C. Democratic Chairman Joe Erwin. But this year's high-profile Democratic primary has attracted more attention from Republican and independent voters, leading to greater controversy over the pledge.

In the past, the use of the oath at polls has always been inconsistent because local Democratic poll workers often allowed voters to fill out ballots without signing the pledge.

Party leaders said using oath this year was largely a formality. It would have meant a lot more if the Republican Party planned to hold a primary. No primary is needed because the state GOP supports President Bush's re-election campaign.

The Republicans will hold a June 8 primary to pick nominees for other races.

The pledge also was designed to dissuade staunch Republicans from crossing party lines to support a Democrat who they think would easily lose to Bush, Erwin said.

Political analysts call those voters "mischief makers" and say members of both parties have done it for years.

"I don't think that's really a problem," said Horry County Republican Party Chairman Duane Oliver.

Oliver was one of many Republican leaders who heard from voters concerned about the pledge. He said his best advice about the primary was, "If there's a man in this primary you support, go vote. If not, stay home."

Marion Dehe of Murrells Inlet considers herself an independent and has voted for both parties throughout the years. When she heard about the pledge, she reconsidered her plans to cast a vote today.

"I'm not a Democrat or a Republican, and I won't sign anything," she said. "I think they would have really hurt themselves if they made people sign something. To me, that sounds illegal."

The pledge was legal because in S.C. primaries are controlled by the parties, not government.

The national Democratic Party typically asks states that do not register voters by party affiliation to use the oath. Besides South Carolina, 15 other states had agreed to use a pledge this year.

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