Former state Rep. Rex Rice of Easley said he hopes he won’t be forced again to become a petition candidate because of snafus in the state’s election laws. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday took steps to prevent the issues that forced Rice and hundreds of others from primary ballots last year from surfacing again when they approved a bill aimed at fixing last year’s election mess. Under the legislation, challengers and incumbents would file financial disclosure forms the same way, all candidates would file the forms electronically and every candidate would receive a receipt from local officials stating their paperwork was in order.
“It fixes it,” Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens, chairman of the committee, told GreenvilleOnline.com afterward.
The measure now moves to the Senate floor where it may become the first or second bill to be debated in the new legislative session.
Lawmakers have vowed to quickly fix the problems that last year led to the ouster of more than 200 candidates from primary ballots following a series of South Carolina Supreme Court rulings concerning financial disclosure paperwork requirements.
Full Article: Bill aimed at fixing S.C. election filing mess still not foolproof | The Greenville News | greenvilleonline.com.