COLUMBIA--Legislation to inject partisan politics into Charleston County school board races will become law by early next week.

Gov. Mark Sanford's office on Thursday confirmed that he will not veto the local bill, which requires candidates for the Charleston County School Board to declare a political party and run in primary elections.

"The bill will become law without his signature," Sanford spokesman Will Folks said.

The governor allows legislation passed by the General Assembly to become law in two ways, either by signing it or taking no action on it for five working days after it is delivered to him.

The House gave the measure final approval Tuesday, and it arrived at the governor's office Wednesday evening.

Charleston lawmakers were worried about the partisan school board bill's chances for two reasons.

First, former Gov. Jim Hodges vetoed similar legislation passed last year, and Gov. Sanford has vetoed several pieces of local legislation already this year.

The governor has in the past vetoed several pieces of special, local legislation -- which is deemed unconstitutional when a general law change could have applied. In February, Sanford vetoed a bill to combine the Charleston County Election Commission and Board of Voter Registration. The General Assembly overrode that veto.

Charleston lawmakers, who having been pushing the idea for two years, had lobbied the governor to not veto the bill and breathed a sigh of relief Thursday night. They said it clearly showed there were no legal problems with the legislation, which was drafted by Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Mount Pleasant.

"I'm just delighted the governor followed constitutional paths," Rep. John Graham Altman III, R-Charleston, said. "The means so much to bringing reform to our school system."

Republicans pushed the measure, which they argued would bring accountability to the school board and allow voters to know candidates better.

Democrats argued that partisan, countywide races would only dilute minority participation and inject an unneeded level of party politics into the school system.