High court reinstates S. Carolina ballot witness requirement

Jessica Gresko/AP

Updated: Oct 5, 2020 / 07:44 PM CDT

Voters wait in line outside the Richland County election office on the first day of in-person absentee voting in South Carolina on Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, in Columbia, S.C. A number of counties have polling places where people can vote almost like they would in person on Election Day, instead of having to mail in their absentee ballot. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a requirement that South Carolina voters using absentee ballots in November’s election get a witness to sign their ballots.

Democrats had sought to have the requirement put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Republicans had defended it as deterring fraud.

While the high court reinstated the requirement for now, it said that any ballots cast before the court’s action Monday evening “and received within two days of this order may not be rejected for failing to comply with the witness requirement.”

Approximately a dozen states that require mail-in ballot envelopes to be signed by one or more witnesses or a notary.