Civic Participation
The
Palmetto Project was founded with the mission of increasing
voter participation through increased registration,
voter education, and clean and honest elections. Over
the years this ongoing effort has yielded a dramatic
increase in citizen participation and, we believe, more
citizens with an investment in the future of their communities.
Election
Reform. In 2004,
South Carolina launched the ambitious task of implementing
a new statewide election system in the state by 2006.
Executive Director Steve Skardon, along with former state
Republican Chairman Rusty DePass, currently co-chairs a commission
of local and state leaders to oversee implementation of
the plan. In 2001, Governor Hodges named Steve to chair
the state's Commission on Election Processes
in the wake of the voting debacle in Florida. The commission
called for a variety of reforms to modernize the state's
election system and make it more accountable.
We
are continuing to partner with the South Carolina Election Commission in
implementing the final stages of a $38 million overhaul of our state’s
election systems and methods of conducting elections.
This effort, to be completed in November 2006, is ahead of schedule and
includes all 34 reforms we’ve advocated based on our twelve-year-old Palmetto
Voter Project. Last fall the new system was tested in 14 counties with great success.
In fact, last year was the first time in modern history that more than
half the state’s population 18 and older actually voted.
Many of those proposals
have been enacted, and the 2006 primaries saw the use of
new, state-of-the-art voting machines in all SC counties. Special thanks to Palmetto Project
Board Member Hayne Hipp and the Liberty Corporation
of Greenville for their ongoing support of these efforts!
Kids
Voting South Carolina
is
an effort to develop a stronger civic ethic by giving
K-12 students an opportunity to participate directly in
elections by voting with their parents. The Palmetto
Project serves as an advocate for the program in South
Carolina. The program has operated for the past ten years
in Georgetown, Horry, and Berkeley counties. In 2002 Orangeburg
County inaugurated the program with the full participation
of all the schools in the county.
The
essence of the program is an extensive classroom curriculum
that helps students learn about campaigns and how to make
up their minds about supporting those candidates whose
views most parallel their own. On Election Day, every
polling place in the county is set up with a special voting
booth in which students cast their ballots while their
parents are in another room casting theirs.
