Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
“This week, the Fourth Circuit issued a major ruling striking down South Carolina’s limits on absentee ballots. The relatively novel basis of this opinion (by Judges Roger Gregory, Judge Pamela Harris, and Judge Julius Richardson) was that it violated the 26th Amendment as discrimination on the basis of age for voters. The opinion conflicts with rulings in other circuits and, in my view, is challengeable. … Under Section 7-15-320 of the South Carolina Code, four categories of ‘[q]ualified electors’ are allowed to vote absentee in an election: electors who are physically disabled; members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents; persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election; and ‘persons sixty-five years of age or older’. S.C. Code § 7-15-320(B).” (08/20/26)