Polling Places in Aiken County

2025-2026 Bill 694: Polling Places in Aiken County

South Carolina General Assembly

126th Session, 2025-2026

Download
This Bill
in Microsoft Word format

A113, R121, S694

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill

Sponsors: Senator Young

Document Path: SJ-0013PB26.docx

Introduced in the Senate on January 13, 2026

Introduced in the House on March 5, 2026

Last Amended on March 26, 2026

Currently residing in the Senate

Governor's Action: April 6, 2026, Signed

Summary: Polling Places in Aiken County

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

12/10/2025

Senate

Prefiled

12/10/2025

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary

1/13/2026

Senate

Introduced and read first time (
Senate Journal-page 19
)

1/13/2026

Senate

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
Senate Journal-page 19
)

2/18/2026

Senate

Committee report: Favorable
Judiciary
(
Senate Journal-page 8
)

3/3/2026

Senate

Amended (
Senate Journal-page 10
)

3/3/2026

Senate

Read second time (
Senate Journal-page 10
)

3/3/2026

Senate

Roll call Ayes-43 Nays-0 (
Senate Journal-page 10
)

3/4/2026

Senate

Read third time and sent to House (
Senate Journal-page 32
)

3/5/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 35
)

3/5/2026

House

Referred to
Aiken Delegation
(
House Journal-page 35
)

3/25/2026

House

Delegation report: Favorable
Aiken Delegation
(
House Journal-page 2
)

3/26/2026

Scrivener's error corrected

3/26/2026

House

Amended (
House Journal-page 34
)

3/26/2026

House

Read second time (
House Journal-page 34
)

3/26/2026

House

Roll call Yeas-105 Nays-1 (
House Journal-page 35
)

3/26/2026

House

Unanimous consent for third reading on next
legislative day (
House Journal-page 36
)

3/27/2026

House

Read third time and returned to Senate with amendments (
House Journal-page 1
)

4/1/2026

Senate

Concurred in House amendment and enrolled (
Senate Journal-page 59
)

4/1/2026

Senate

Roll call Ayes-41 Nays-0 (
Senate Journal-page 59
)

4/1/2026

Ratified R 121

4/6/2026

Signed By Governor

4/23/2026

Effective date 04/06/26

4/23/2026

Act No. 113

View the latest
legislative information
at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/10/2025
02/18/2026
03/03/2026
03/25/2026
03/26/2026
03/26/2026-A

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A113, R121, S694)

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 7-7-40, RELATING TO DESIGNATION OF VOTING PRECINCTS IN AIKEN COUNTY, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT IF THE BOARD OF VOTER REGISTRATION AND ELECTIONS DETERMINES THAT A PRECINCT CONTAINS NO SUITABLE LOCATION FOR A POLLING PLACE, THE BOARD, UPON APPROVAL OF A MAJORITY OF THE COUNTY LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION, MAY LOCATE THE POLLING PLACE INSIDE THE COUNTY AND WITHIN FIVE MILES OF THE PRECINCT'S BOUNDARIES; AND BY AMENDING SECTION
5-15-60
, RELATING TO MUNICIPALITIES ADOPTING METHODS OF NOMINATING CANDIDATES FOR AND DETERMINING RESULTS OF NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT ANY MUNICIPALITY WHICH ELECTS TO HOLD PARTISAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS MUST PAY ALL COSTS AND EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONDUCT OF A MUNICIPAL PRIMARY ELECTION.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Voting Precincts

SECTION 1. Section 7-7-40 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding a subsection to read:

(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 7-7-920, if the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Aiken County determines that a precinct contains no suitable location for a polling place, the board, upon approval by a majority of the county legislative delegation, may locate the polling place inside the county and within five miles of the precinct's boundaries.

Partisan municipal elections

SECTION 2. Section
5-15-60
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

Section
5-15-60
. Each municipality in this State shall adopt by ordinance one of the following alternative methods of nominating candidates for and determining the results of its nonpartisan elections:

(1) the nonpartisan plurality method prescribed in Section
5-15-61
;

(2) the nonpartisan election and runoff election method prescribed in Section
5-15-62
;

(3) the nonpartisan primary election and general election method prescribed in Section
5-15-63
. If nonpartisan elections are not provided for, nomination of candidates for municipal offices may be by party primary, party convention or by petition in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the applicable provisions of the state election laws and the rules of municipal political party organizations not in conflict therewith. Provided, any municipality which elects to hold partisan elections for municipal offices must pay all costs and expenses associated with the conduct of a municipal primary election.

Time effective

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Ratified the 1st day of April, 2026.

Approved the 6th day of April, 2026.

__________

This web page was last updated on
April 29, 2026 at 3:14 PM