A look at what went down Tuesday at the State House:

MCMASTER: ELECTION COMMISSION CAN’T BUY VOTING MACHINES

Attorney General Henry McMaster said Tuesday that the State Election Commission does not appear to have the right to purchase voting machines for the entire state.

Counties and local election commissions have the legal right to buy their own equipment, McMaster wrote in a 14-page opinion.

Legislators said the opinion throws the timely implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act in jeopardy. The 2002 law is meant to bring uniformity to the election process, to avoid the equipment and human failures of the 2000 presidential election.

Sen Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, hailed the opinion as a victory for local government. “It’s their money and it’s their decision to buy the type of machines they want.”

Knotts also has been an advocate for Palmetto Unilect, a local company eager to get some of the business when the state spends as much as $48.5 million on new voting machines and training on their use. Knotts complained that the state shut out the local company in favor of another.

McMaster’s opinion is non-binding, but he says the state shouldn’t move forward without a court ruling in its favor.

SANFORD SIGNS REPEAL OF GUN PURCHASE LIMIT

For the first time in almost 30 years, it is legal to buy more than one handgun a month in South Carolina.

Gov. Mark Sanford has signed the repeal of the state law that limited handgun purchases to one a month, which has been on the books since 1975. The General Assembly had signed off on it earlier this month.

The Legislature passed the one-gun-a-month law after studies showed that South Carolina was a significant source for guns used in criminal acts in East Coast cities. One found that 10 percent of all the handguns used in violent crimes in New York City had been purchased in South Carolina.

Those who support the prohibition say it was put in place to save lives and should be preserved to keep guns out of criminal hands.

Backers of repealing it say it had not stemmed the tide of guns moving illegally from South Carolina to other states.

SENATE THROWS 95TH BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR CHAPLAIN SINCE 1950

The Rev. George Meetze has spent the past 54 years starting each Senate session with a verse and a prayer.

Tuesday, the Senate paused to thank the retired Lutheran pastor and celebrate his 95th birthday, which comes June 24 while the Legislature is out of session.

Meetze is known for prayers that ask people to work together in and out of the Legislature. While his words frequently precede some of the Senate’s most contentious debates, Meetze says he’s a behind-the-scenes, nonpartisan guy and usually won’t talk to reporters about what he thinks of the day’s issues.

“Today I step from behind the curtain,” Meetze said as slices of a big, white birthday cake were passed around and senators stood in line to have their pictures taken with him.

From Staff and Wire Reports