COLUMBIA, S.C. — With more than twenty high-profile Democrats coming to the state for the convention this weekend, Republican Governor Henry McMaster said welcome.
The Democratic Party's top presidential contenders will be in town to speak to voters and address the convention over the weekend.
Conressman and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn's famous fish fry takes place Friday night.
Governor McMaster, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, said he hopes the Democrats spend a lot of money in his state.
“I say welcome to South Carolina. This is the most, probably one of the most interested electorates in the United States. The people of South Carolina are highly accustomed to presidential primaries, cause we've done it for so many years. We first started with the Republican party in 1980 and the Democrats started doing it, the Democratic party after that. We welcome the candidates, we hope they'll spend a lot of money and have a good time and get to meet a lot of people. And we hope they come back and of course we're looking forward to Mr. Trump coming as well,” McMaster said in his Statehouse office.
The Governor also commented on the new voting machines coming to the state. The machines will likely be used statewide for the first time for the Democratic primary.
The new system will use a combination of paper and electronic records to ensure South Carolina’s electoral integrity.
Voters will use a touchscreen to make their selection, then get a paper receipt of their vote, according to a press release.
After reviewing the paper copy of their vote, they will insert it into a scanner to tally it electronically.
Governor McMaster said he approved of the decision.
“The state Fiscal Accountability Authority is involved as well as the Department of Administration. I think there's no better way to have made that decision than that way. And, the decision they decided on, these machines, I'm confident are as good as we can get. I don't think there's any perfect machine. In order to comply with the law there's various things you can and can't do, as far as identifying which voter voted for which people. You just can't make that available publicly, that's the whole purpose of a secret ballot. So, we have to find a way to have a machine that works or a process that works quickly and is reliable. And this produces two kinds of records, a paper record as well an electronic record. We believe that that is-- That's the best we've been able to find so far,” McMaster said.
McMaster also announced the results of a study into the state's recent open records request law.
The study examined executive branch state agencies after the state's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) changed in 2017.
The law requires state agencies to post fees online regarding open records requests. It also shortened the time agencies must respond to a request from 15 days to 10, if it’s within the last two years.
Governor McMaster urged the state legislature to take the law a step further.
“I'd also like to take this opportunity to encourage the General Assembly, encourage the General Assembly to join the rest of the government offices. All the government offices, except those in the General Assembly, must comply with the open records law under our current law. That is an error, that should be corrected. The people, it is important the people of South Carolina, as well as every place else, to have confidence in what is going on in their government. And the best way for them to have access to make up their own mind is to have access to records,” McMaster said.
The Governor also signed an executive order for every cabinet office to conduct a review of their open records practices and make any necessary changes.
