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Majority Leader Kenny Bingham
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House GOP: Senate Inaction on Voter ID ‘Disappointing’

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The House Republican leadership expressed the dismay of all state Republicans today when the South Carolina Senate adjourned without approving the Republican Party’s top priority for 2010 – legislation requiring voters to simply prove who they are when they vote.

“To let this single Senator hold our entire state hostage, while Republicans in the Senate hold enough votes to end the filibuster, is an unbelievable extension of personal privilege to the detriment of the needs of South Carolina,” said House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham.  “It’s a sad state of affairs, but as conservatives have seen over the past eight years, this is politics as usual in the Senate.”

Senator Brad Hutto is filibustering the legislation in an attempt to run out the clock on the 2010 legislative session. Hutto was also a major stumbling block in Republican attempts to approve the abortion waiting-period bill – stumbling blocks overcome after midnight Thursday morning.

“The House members of the conference committee worked hard to craft a compromise that was acceptable to the Republicans in the House, our party, and Senate Republicans,” said Assistant Majority Leader Bruce Bannister. “Our Senate Republican colleagues are giving a single Democrat the personal privilege of holding hostage our party’s single most important issue for 2010.”

The compromise agreed to by the conference committee and approved by the House included requiring voters to show a photo identification when they vote – use of a South Carolina drivers license, a South Carolina official identification card, a U.S. Passport, a U.S. Government identification or a voter identification card with a photo ID. The bill also included an 8-day early voting period and no absentee voting on a machine prior to early voting.

“It’s disappointing that the Republican majority in the Senate couldn’t use their majority to affect a win on Voter ID for South Carolina,” said Rep. Alan Clemmons, the author of the legislation.  “The House approved this bill 15 months ago, but the Senate has dithered and delayed and done nothing.”

“A clear loophole exists in the current law,” Bingham added. “The House Republicans used our majority three times to approve this legislation. It’s too bad the Senate majority can’t deliver.”