New closed primaries bill brings mixed reactions from lawmakers, governor

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — A group of Republican lawmakers is promoting a new bill that would implement closed primaries across South Carolina.

Should the bill pass, only registered members of a political party would be able to vote in that party’s primary.

H.3310 was introduced by Representative Mike Burns and is backed by candidate for governor, Representative Ralph Norman.

“You’ve got such a diversion between the two parties. And to have close elections, particularly in statewide primaries, and you have people winning by 30 votes, 40…You should not be able to disrupt the will of the people, when you totally disagree with a candidate or issue,” says Norman, who believes a closed primary is just as important in a presidential election.

“It’s important across the board. There is no boundary it doesn’t affect. This helps this state,” says Norman.

However, Governor Henry McMaster disagrees, saying as the bill is written, he would veto it, should it make it to his desk.

“The question is, ‘Does it make it easier for people to vote, or cause people to want to vote, or does it put obstacles (in their way)? And what I’ve seen, as written, these bills so far, it seems to me they’re putting obstacles (in voters’ way).”

Voters would also be required to register as a member of that particular party at least 60 days before the primary takes place.

Democratic Senator Tameika Isaac Devine believes a closed primary could be one of the worst things to happen in South Carolina.

“We have so many folks who are independent thinkers. I’m a Democrat, but I’m an independent thinker. And so if I find a candidate that speaks to issues that are important to me, I should have the opportunity to vote for that person,” says Isaac Devine.

“I think about a third of our voters typically consider themselves Independent. Some people decide they’re a Republican today and decide they’re a Democrat tomorrow. I think they ought to be able to do that,” says McMaster, adding, “I know that’s how the Republican Party was built. We allowed an open primary. We didn’t restrict it to those who had a Republican card. And people in the presidential primaries especially, if they wanted to vote, we said ‘Come on in!’ Another thing is, a lot of people think that in an election, that somebody from the other side will come in and vote for the weaker candidate in order to help their party’s candidate. People suggest that that’s going to happen in just about every election, and so far, since I’ve been involved, and I’ve been the party chairman from 1993 to 2002, it never happened. People think it’s gonna happen. There may be a few pranksters that go out and do that, but we never have seen any significant amount of votes happening that way.”

A competing bill being introduced would close the primaries but allow voters registered as Independent to vote either way.

“I want a strong one, I don’t want a watered down version, and I think we can get the job done,” says Norman.

The bill will be considered at the Statehouse for the first time on January 22nd.