By Rep. Chip Limehouse

(R – Charleston)

In a state of 2.7 million registered voters, miscounting more than 212,000 voters can represent a major problem – especially if it was done intentionally.

A recent AP news report uncovered findings that showed the S.C. Election Commission knowingly provided inaccurate voter data to both state and federal officials. This raises some serious concerns about how our state’s Election Commission operates.

Examining the Commission’s claim that 240,000 registered S.C. voters lacked the necessary photo identification required under a new state Voter ID law, officials at our state Department of Motor Vehicles found the actual number could in fact be below 30,000 individuals.

To make matters worse, last week, the director of the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles testified that – after examining fewer than 10 percent of the state’s registered voters – that as many as 957 dead people are listed as having voted. This is an incredible finding that not only validates the need for the Voter ID law, but also adds more fuel to the argument that the Obama Administration was playing politics when it rejected the law last month.

It’s essential that we identify eligible voters lacking the photo identification necessary to cast a secure ballot. This is important for a number of reasons, first of which is voter education. Our goal is to provide information and assistance to all identified individuals so that no one is improperly disenfranchised on election day.

Still, addressing 30,000 non-ID-carrying voters represents challenges, but such a major difference in numbers would not only greatly reduce the cost of informing voters and issuing IDs free of charge, it could have also eased disenfranchisement concerns the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) raised during its preclearance review of our state’s Voter ID law.

While it’s easy to understand the Election Commission’s tendency to err on the side of caution, even the best-intentioned abundance of caution doesn’t excuse the egregiousness of the flaws discovered.

Basic fact-checking by the DMV found that over 37,000 potential voters on the Commission’s list were deceased.

Additionally, they found that more than 20,000 identified voters did in fact possess valid IDs. Some 154,000 others on the list had also previously been issued S.C. photo identification but were canceled either because the residents had moved to another state and issued licenses there or the IDs had expired.

The most disturbing information uncovered raises questions of possible voter fraud. A few examples include 334 voters who appear to be registered at the same address along with 25 other voters registered at the Sumter County Correctional Center. The Commission even acknowledged that some records have Social Security numbers that were either all 0’s or all 9’s.

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One particular identified, and still eligible voter is listed as being 130 years old. That might be a new Guinness World Record – but only if they are actually still alive, after all, dead people have been casting ballots in Chicago for years.

DMV Executive Director Kevin Shwedo made it clear these misleading numbers were no accident when he told the AP, "The Election Commission knew that some of their data was inaccurate. If you know, for example, that there are 37,295 dead people in your database and acknowledge them as potential voters, you are either stupid or you are disingenuous.”

Some of these discrepancies may be oversights that have gone unaddressed for far too long, however, some may represent very real instances of voter fraud. This is the exact reason why lawmakers pursued more secure election procedures like Voter ID – to prevent fraud and increase ballot integrity.

Unfortunately, when provided the DMV’s more accurate findings, DOJ officials refused to consider this new voter data. The DOJ went on to officially decline our Voter ID law preclearance approval. Citing disenfranchisement concerns that were based on information they knew to be inaccurate, they released their decision to the public very discreetly – just two days before Christmas.

An appeal of this decision will end up in D.C. District Court – creating a somewhat unique situation, considering the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld similar Voter ID laws as constitutional and within a state’s right to enact.

This presentation of such wildly inaccurate voter information either justifies our work to make our state’s elections more secure or brings to light a disturbing effort to intentionally mislead officials and derail the federal preclearance of our Voter ID law.

I sincerely hope it is not the latter and instead just a serious case of incompetence. Either way, this raises some serious concerns that must be addressed at the Election Commission to prevent any further voter fraud.

Chip Limehouse is a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. His district is in Charleston County.