Ensuring recorded roll call votes on contested judicial elections

Article III, Section 20 of the South Carolina Constitution requires that in the absence of unanimous consent, an election by the General Assembly requires a roll call vote.

Electing judges is one of the most significant things we will ever do as legislators, and for this reason alone we should be doing it on the record. Anything less creates a cloak of secrecy that invites corruption.

I want to ensure that we vote on the record on the contested judicial election races.

As you will recall, I walked out of the judicial election last year in protest after President Peeler refused to recognize my clearly audible objections to electing certain contested races by acclamation with a voice vote. I was joined by Reps. Jones, Magnuson, and Morgan.

Today, I intend to attempt to once again get a roll call vote on the following races for which the JMSC nominated more than one candidate:

  • Circuit Court, At-Large, Seat 12 (DeBerry)

If any of the challengers drop out of the other contested races before noon Wednesday, I will include those races as well:

  • Court of Appeals, Seat 8 (Benjamin/Vinson)

  • Circuit Court, 13th Circuit, Seat 3 (Crick/Morgan)

  • Circuit Court, 14th Circuit, Seat 1 (Bonds/Legette)

  • Family Court, 7th Circuit, Seat 1 (Moss/McJimpsey)

  • Administrative Law Court, Seat 3 (Reibold/Tedeschi)

There are serious issues around at least three of these races (only one of which has been publicly reported, and) and it is therefore especially important that we conduct these elections on the record.

Rather than try to get a roll call by objecting to unanimous consent in each individual race like I did last year, I plan to make the following motion:

Mr. President, pursuant to the concurrent resolution and Article III, Section 20 and 22, of the South Carolina Constitution, I move that the following race(s) for which more than one candidate was nominated by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission be considered contested races under Article V, Sections 8 and 13, of the South Carolina Constitution and to receive a roll call vote...

I plan to request a roll call on the motion, which requires nine Representatives to second the request.

Will they? I and many others have asked, and as of this writing at 10am, only Reps. RJ May, Vic Dabney, and Mike Burns have agreed to.

If you have not already done so, you should definitely contact your legislators and demand that they elect conservative judges on the record!