House budget plan includes $6M for election agency

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s Election Commission would get about $6 million in one-time money to buy laptops that can speed up precinct lines and save for a future replacement of voting machines under a budget plan proposed by the state House.

The money is part of $113 million the budget proposal distributes from this fiscal year’s rainy day fund.

Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire says $600,000 will buy 1,200 laptops with electronic voter registration lists which can help move lines because poll managers can process voters more quickly, compared to paper lists. The electronic look-up also enables poll workers to tell voters who show up at the wrong precinct where they need to go.

The agency would set $5 million aside to begin saving for a new statewide voting system needed after 2016.