Opinion ID: 1302149
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the voting booth

Text: Municipal elections must be conducted pursuant to the South Carolina Election Law contained in Title 7, with any necessary changes in points of detail. S.C.Code Ann. § 5-15-10 (1976). The Legislature has established explicit requirements for voting booths. There must be provided at each polling precinct at least one booth. At least one booth must be provided for each two hundred and fifty registered electors or a major fraction thereof of the precinct. The booths must be made of wood, sheet metal, or other suitable substance; must not be less than thirty-two inches wide, thirty-two inches deep, and six feet six inches high; must have a curtain hanging from the top in front to within three feet of the floor; and must have a suitable shelf on which the voter can prepare his ballot. In primary, general, and special elections, the booths must be provided by the commissioners of election or other electoral board. Only one voter shall be allowed to enter a booth at a time, and no one except as provided herein is allowed to speak to a voter while in the booth preparing his ballot. S.C.Code Ann. § 7-13-740 (Supp.1998). The Court has indicated that minor variations in the design of a voting booth are not likely to prompt it to void an election. Smoak v. Rhodes, 201 S.C. at 241, 22 S.E.2d at 686 (It will not be contended that a few inches one way or the other in these matters [size of booth or length of curtain screening booth] would vitiate an election); Killingsworth v. State Executive Comm. of Democratic Party, 125 S.C. at 492, 118 S.E. at 824 (same). The Court has not, however, decided a case in which voters were not provided with any voting booths at all. Courts that have considered the issue disagree on it. The Georgia Supreme Court has held that a statute requiring election officials to provide booths is mandatory, and nullified an election in which election officials totally disregarded the statute by providing no booths. Moon v. Seymour, 186 S.E. at 745; see also Cox v. Williams, 216 Ga. 535, 117 S.E.2d 899 (1961) (nullifying referendum results due to numerous irregularities, including the lack of screened voting booths). The North Dakota Supreme Court has taken the opposite view, holding that secrecy was adequately ensured in a school bond election by allowing voters to use three large tables in a large room. The court emphasized it did not intend to minimize the importance of voting booths. Mittelstadt v. Bender, 210 N.W.2d 89, 95-96 (N.D.1973). In a similar case, the Missouri Supreme Court refused to nullify a school bond election based on the lack of voting booths because the one-question ballot was easily concealed while marking it. Lake v. Riutcel, 249 S.W.2d 450, 451 (Mo.1952); see also Cashen v. Bd. of Education, 2 Ill.App.2d 490, 119 N.E.2d 823, 824-25 (1954) (upholding results in school board election where no booths were provided; no statute required the use of booths in such elections). In this case, it is undisputed that Commission did not provide any voting booths, and that the record contains no actual proof of voter intimidation or fraud. We acknowledge that Commission's decision to proceed without booths is understandable, given the hasty preparations and the inability of Charleston County officials to provide their traditional assistance. Nothing in the record suggests Commission failed to appreciate the importance of its responsibilities. Absent the several statutes that address the secret ballot requirement of Article II, Section 1, we would be less constrained in deciding whether Commission met the constitutional requirement in this case. However, we are guided both by the constitution and the Legislature's explicit instructions on how to ensure the right to a secret ballot. We conclude this election challenge is not one in which we are faced with minor violations of technical requirements. The history of the secret ballot, our precedent, and the statutes persuade us that the voting booth is an essential element of the electoral process. The lack of any evidence of voter intimidation or fraud is not dispositive because the total absence of booths affects the fundamental integrity of the election. See Edwards v. Abrams, supra ; Corn v. Blackwell, supra ; Birchmore v. State Bd., supra. We cannot condone the method of voting employed by Commission because it would unwisely sanction a practice that circumvent[s] the plain purposes of the law and open[s] the door to fraud and intimidation. May v. Wilson, 199 S.C. at 360, 19 S.E.2d at 470. Accordingly, we choose to follow the view espoused in Moon v. Seymour, supra , and hold that the statutory provision for voting booths is mandatory in these circumstances. Therefore, the total absence of voting booths violates the constitutional and statutory right to a secret ballot.