Changing “Every” to “Only” on who can vote.
Is there a good explanation for the change anywhere?
I haven’t found an in-depth one yet but I have asked a legal community input.
The official excuse is that this will stop non-citizens from voting in local elections. But the current text already specifies that you need to be a citizen if SC and US so that is BS.
The problem with changing the language like this is that under current law all US, South Carolina citizens are eligible to vote if they register and don’t have any felonies and over the age of 17. That right is guaranteed by “Every”. But with “Only” it makes it really easy to pass a law that isn’t an amendment that could restrict a whole bunch of people from being qualified. It looks like this is a two step process to take away people’s voting rights.