1. (A) Qualified electors in any of the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections when they are absent from their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open, to an extent that it prevents them from voting in person:

   1. (1) students, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;
   2. (2) persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;
   3. (3) governmental employees, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;
   4. (4) persons on vacation (who by virtue of vacation plans will be absent from their county of residence on election day); or
   5. (5) overseas citizens.

2. (B) Qualified electors in any of the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections, whether or not they are absent from their county of residence on election day:

   1. (1) physically disabled persons;
   2. (2) persons whose employment obligations require that they be at their place of employment during the hours that the polls are open and present written certification of that obligation to the county board of voter registration and elections;
   3. (3) certified poll watchers, poll managers, county board of voter registration and elections members and staff, county and state election commission members and staff working on election day;
   4. (4) persons attending sick or physically disabled persons;
   5. (5) persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election;
   6. (6) persons with a death or funeral in the family within a three-day period before the election;
   7. (7) persons who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on election day;
   8. (8) persons sixty-five years of age or older;
   9. (9) persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial; or
   10. (10) members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 23-442; 1953 (48) 423; 1960 (51) 1598; 1966 (54) 2376; 1975 (59) 815; 1982 Act No. 280, Section 1, eff February 24, 1982; 1984 Act No. 266, Section 7, eff January 27, 1984; 1987 Act No. 130 Section 1, eff June 3, 1987; 1989 Act No. 48, Section 1, eff April 6, 1989; 1989 Act No. 193, Section 2, eff June 20, 1989; 1992 Act No. 489, Section 1, eff July 1, 1992; 1994 Act No. 365, Section 3, eff May 3, 1994; 1995 Act No. 80, Section 1, eff June 12, 1995; 1996 Act No. 434, Section 19, eff June 4, 1996; 1997 Act No. 25, Section 1, eff upon approval (became law without the Governor's signature on May 22, 1997); 2011 Act No. 43, Section 8, eff upon contingency, see editor's note, (approved June 7, 2011); 2014 Act No. 289 (S.825), Pt V, Section 6, eff June 23, 2014.

Code Commissioner's Note

Pursuant to the directive in 2014 Act No. 196, Section 8, at the direction of the Code Commissioner, references in this section to county election commissions or commissioners or county boards of voter registration were changed to the "Board of Voter Registration and Elections" and board members as appropriate.

Editor's Note

2011 Act No. 43, Sections 1 and 10, provide as follows:

"SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the 'South Carolina Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voters Act'."

"SECTION 10. This act takes effect upon preclearance approval by the United States Department of Justice or approval by a declaratory judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, whichever occurs first." [Preclearance approval received August 22, 2011.]

Effect of Amendment

The 1982 amendment added the phrase "during the hours the polls are open" in the first sentence of the introductory paragraph, and also added the phrase "poll managers, county voter registration board members and staff, and county election commission members and staff working on election day" after physically disabled persons in the same sentence. In item (4), "Persons in" was added. Former item (8) concerning professions of ministry, teaching, and medical was deleted, former item (9) was renumbered (8), and a new item (9) was added.

The 1984 amendment added item (10).

The 1987 amendment added item (11) to extend the right to vote by absentee ballot to persons attending sick or physically disabled persons.

The first 1989 amendment by Act No. 48, Section 1 added item (13).

The second 1989 amendment by Act No. 193, Section 2, added the references to a person admitted to a hospital as an emergency patient on the day of an election or within four-day period before the election in the opening paragraph and as item (12).

The 1992 amendment added item (14).

The 1994 amendment added item (15).

The 1995 amendment substituted "sixty-five" for "seventy-two" in paragraph 14.

The 1996 amendment inserted "certified poll watchers," preceding "poll managers, county voter registration" both in the first paragraph and in item (9); and inserted "(USO)" in item (3).

The 1997 amendment, in the introductory paragraph, deleted ", signed by their employer," following "present written certification of that obligation".

The 2011 amendment rewrote the section.

2014 Act No. 289, Section 6, deleted former subsection (A)(2), redesignated former subsections (A)(3) through (A)(6) accordingly, added the text from former subsection (A)(2) as subsection (B)(10), and made other nonsubstantive changes.