Judge Denies Request to Grant Nearly 1,900 South Carolina Voter Registrations to 17-Year-Olds

To date, the DMV has positively identified 1,896 who asked to be registered when applying for a driver’s license but weren’t added to the rolls.

A judge has denied a request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Carolina to compel South Carolina’s Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) and State Election Commission to reopen voter registration in the state and add thousands of eligible 17-year-olds to the voter rolls ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

The ruling, issued on Oct. 25 by Judge Daniel Coble of the Richland County Court of Common Pleas, was handed down in response to a lawsuit brought by the advocacy group, which sought emergency relief to correct what it argued was a systemic error by the SCDMV that prevented eligible 17-year-olds from being registered to vote.

South Carolina law allows 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by Election Day to be added to voter rolls, but an apparent glitch in the SCDMV’s computers did not transmit the registration forms of around 17,000 would-be voters to the State Election Commission (SEC) even though the youths checked a box to register when they applied for a state ID or driver’s licenses.

“Although thousands of these individuals were eligible to register to vote, were entitled to easily register through their SCDMV transaction, timely provided state officials with the information necessary to register, and indicated a desire to do so, SEC is unwilling to add them to the voter rolls or otherwise protect their fundamental right to cast a ballot in the 2024 general election,” the ACLU’s complaint reads.

While around 6,000 of the affected 17-year-olds managed to register to vote some other way, that still left nearly 11,000—and possibly many more—affected by the issue, the ACLU said in a statement.

“Of those that are not currently registered, it is not yet known how many selected ‘Yes’ on the form indicating that they would like to register to vote,” the group stated. “Because this information is not coded electronically in the SCDMV database, a hand count will be required.”

To date, the DMV has positively identified 1,896 who asked to be registered when applying for a driver’s license but weren’t added to the rolls, according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette. In court, attorneys for the defendants argued that reopening voter registration after early voting has already begun and adding the 1,896 affected voters to the rolls would disrupt the voting system.

While the judge expressed sympathy for the impacted voters, he sided with the defendants, ruling that the ACLU’s emergency request to reopen voter registration after the deadline was too drastic and disruptive.

“After careful consideration of the parties’ written motions and oral arguments, this Court finds that the relief sought by Plaintiff is too drastic and would likely violate the separation of powers doctrine,” the judge wrote in the order. “As SEC Defendant stated, there is no effectual relief that this Court could grant and even if it attempted to, the relief sought would create disorder in the voting system.”

However, Coble did not dismiss the case, meaning that the broader legal challenge to the SCDMV’s failure to register eligible 17-year-olds will continue to proceed through the courts.

The ACLU said in a statement following the ruling that the judge’s decision doesn’t end the case, signaling the group’s intent to continue the legal battle.

“Our government failed these young voters, and now the same government is making excuses rather than making things right. When ‘It’s too hard to fix’ becomes an acceptable reason to disenfranchise voters, we know that there’s work to do,” ACLU of South Carolina legal director Allen Chaney said in a statement on X.

Data released on Oct. 25 by the SEC shows that around 511,000 ballots have been cast in the first four days of early voting in South Carolina.