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*AKA Establishment appears to save the day while avoiding addressing important legislation

H4022, a Democrat-filed bill in favor of Ranked Choice Voting (Instant Runoff Voting), is on the agenda for Thursday morning’s 9:00 AM House Judiciary Constitutional Laws Subcommittee. 

In a Republican supermajority state. Could this be a red herring?

A call has been put out across the state for a rally at the State House at 8:00 AM Thursday, 1/25/2024, under the guise that this could purportedly knock Trump off the ballot.

H4022 pertains to municipal elections, and while there is an outside possibility of amendments being added that would affect the Presidential Primary, it seems there may be more at play here than first appears.

We do agree that this is a bad bill and a foot in the door for introducing Ranked Choice Voting in other elections in SC and this incrementalism should be stopped at all costs; however, we wonder about the timing.

Most subcommittee meetings have 1-3 bills on the agenda, while tomorrow’s meeting has a whopping 7 bills for a 1-hour meeting. 

The first bill on the agenda is a nothingburger, too.

The House will go into session at 10:00 AM, so if the bulk of the time is taken up by this pro-Ranked Choice Voting bill (which is #3 on the agenda), 3 legitimate Election Integrity Reform bills filed by Representative Rob Harris (H4259, H4260, H4261) that are listed as items #4-6 on the agenda will never see the light of day. 

Also largely unnoticed is the anti-Ranked Choice Voting Ban H4591 which is #7 on the agenda. 

A footnote to the agenda states, “This is not an exclusive list of bills to be discussed. The agenda is subject to change. The members may bring up and discuss any bill presently in subcommittee.”

One way to be certain that there will not be time to address the last 4 bills on the agenda, which enact safeguards regarding election integrity, is to have a rally about a bill that may not even be relevant to the presidential primary.

It’s brilliant, really. Knocking this bill down (which never really needed to be pulled onto the agenda in the first place) will make the establishment look like the heroes, while leaving no time for real discussion on other bills that sorely need to be addressed.

If you feel strongly about Ranked Choice Voting, or that Representative Harris’ bills deserve to be heard, please submit written testimony to the subcommittee before 9:00 AM at HJudConstitutionalLaws@schouse.gov .