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