Back in 2004, Marci Andino was accused of shilling for corporate America and the Republican Party as she rolled out the state’s new electronic voting machines. Those complaints continue to this day, as critics insist that machines that don’t spit out paper receipts to voters are subject to manipulation and stolen elections.
Then over the past couple of years, the director of the State Election Commission got some harsh looks from GOP lawmakers when she joined county election officials in calling for an open early voting system. Democrats love and Republicans hate early voting, which election professionals argue would help keep lines moving on Election Day, at minimum cost, by replacing the restricted absentee voting procedure that more and more people are using illegally to vote in advance.
Today, it’s the ACLU and other groups fighting the state’s new photo ID law who have targeted her agency, as it gears up for a fast implementation of a law that might or might not be implemented. She understands that this comes with the territory, but Ms. Andino wants people to believe that she doesn’t have a dog in this fight.
Actually, she says she doesn’t have a position on whether the U.S. Justice Department should allow South Carolina to implement the law, which requires voters to show one of five specific types of photo identification cards in order to cast a ballot in person. She does have a dog in the fight over the integrity of the election system, and she argues that it is being attacked by opponents of the new law in order to further their goal of having the law blocked. Opponents say they’re attacking a proposed voting system that lacks integrity, that was designed with the goal of disenfranchising legitimate voters.
Full Article: Agency faces tough balancing act with voter ID regulations | Aiken Standard.