Investigation finds S.C. election integrity concerns are ‘unfounded’
COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced that agents found that allegations that state agencies were attempting to “illegally non-citizens to vote” were unfounded following an initial review of the situation.
The situation began earlier this month when state Rep. Adam Morgan, a member of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, said a refugee reached out to him after her family repeatedly received a packet, which included a voter registration declination form, from the South Carolina Medicaid Office.
SLED began investigating after South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster asked them to evaluate the allegations.
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SLED’s report explains that the South Carolina Voter Registration form they received asks, “Are you a citizen of the United States of America,” and clearly states in bold, “DO NOT complete this form” if they check “No.”
According to SLED’s report, the forms were sent to refugees from Ukraine who were residing with a family member in Spartanburg, SC, through the Uniting for Ukraine program.
Morgan said he’s glad no evidence of fraud was found, but said SLED only addressed part of his concerns.
“How do we fix this issue of state agencies repeatedly sending these forms to non-citizens? They either should not be sending them to non-citizens, definitely not repeatedly. Or, if they are required by federal law, well, my word, change the federal law and at least on the state level add a citizenship question because there’s nothing in the federal law that would prohibit us from adding a citizenship question to these voter declination forms,” Morgan said.
SLED’s report states that individuals received the forms because they were receiving numerous benefits from state agencies, including Security Numbers, Identification Cards, a driver’s license, food stamps and cash assistance for eight months.
SLED’s report also showed that the Legislative Audit Council found no instances where non-U.S. citizens with state IDs or driver’s licenses had voted from 2022 to 2023.
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