1,900 South Carolina Teenagers Deemed Ineligible to Vote in November Election Due to DMV Computer Glitch
November 5, 2024
By: Kristen Adolf
As the November presidential election approached, so did the resulting tsunami of election-based litigation. In South Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint in one such case on October 22nd – a mere two weeks from Election Day. The case, American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina Foundation v. State Election Commission, brought a serious concern before the South Carolina Courts: 1,900 South Carolina teenagers had been improperly obstructed from registering to vote due to a computer glitch within the South Carolina DMV system.
The case arose under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), perhaps better known as the Motor Voter Act. Under the NVRA, states are required to offer an opportunity for citizens to register to vote at state motor vehicle agencies, commonly on driver’s license applications.
The teenagers that the ACLU filed this case on behalf of were all seventeen when they got their driver’s licenses, and they checked the box on their DMV form stating that they wanted to register to vote at the same time. As the teenagers would have turned eighteen by the November 5 General Election, they were all eligible to register to vote under South Carolina law. However, none of the teenagers were actually registered to vote because a “glitch in the DMV’s computers did not identify the teens as qualified and did not present them with an additional electronic form certifying they were citizens, not felons and otherwise qualified to vote.”
The ACLU filed its complaint against the South Carolina State Election Commission and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas, and a judge heard oral arguments just three days later.
Just five hours after hearing arguments in the case, Judge Daniel Coble issued his ruling:
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. 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.
He elaborated on his rationale for denying the teenage plaintiffs’ right to vote in the upcoming election, stating that it was simply too close to the upcoming election for the court system to grant relief.
The ACLU, for its part, responded that the ruling out of the Richland County Court would not end its mission to receive permanent injunctive relief in the case, signaling that the civil rights organization intended to file an appeal in the days following Judge Coble’s ruling. Following up on the disappointing ruling for the nonprofit, the ACLU stated that “ACLU-SC is still seeking permanent relief from the SCDMV’s unlawful exclusion of 17-year-olds from the National Voting Rights Act “Motor Voter” provision.”
Allen Chaney, the Legal Director for the ACLU of South Carolina, affirmed the organization’s commitment to the case, stating that “[w]hen ‘it’s too hard to fix’ becomes an acceptable reason to disenfranchise voters, we know that there’s work to do.”
Whether the ACLU’s challenge to the South Carolina State Election Commission will be successful on appeal remains to be seen, but, at present, it seems that at least the Richland County Court is unwilling to intervene to register 1,900 new voters just days out from such a contentious presidential election.