In South Carolina, Trump’s pick for governor has an elaborate plan for voter suppression

By Brentin Mock

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 24: Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures to supporters at an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds on February 24, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. Trump defeated Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state as South Carolina held its primary today. Also pictured is South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette (R). (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

In the pivotal, battleground state of South Carolina, President Donald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette from a crowded GOP primary race for governor on Friday.

Among that crowd is a U.S. House rep who called for military intervention and martial law to block Joe Biden from the White House, a U.S. House rep who’s dubbed herself “Trump in high heels,” and an attorney general who helped sue to overturn 2020’s election results.

But for Evette, none of those efforts went far enough. Not only that but her campaign platform entails perhaps the most elaborate plan for voter restrictions and suppression of all the other candidates. 

Trump’s endorsement of Evette, in the state where Republicans recently abandoned plans to help him win another seat in Congress, reflects his pattern of siding with those most loyal to his agenda of endangering voting rights.

One of the primary features of Evette’s campaign has been her attacks on fellow primary challengers who she says inadequately supported Trump’s 2020 election overthrow efforts. 

In fact, on the day of Trump’s endorsement, she posted an AI-modified social media video criticizing fellow gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R) – the self-proclaimed “Trump in high heels” – for “supporting Democratic efforts to elect Joe Biden.”

The ad looked a lot like one of Evette’s earlier campaign videos, also AI-modified, where she attacked state Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) for “affirming Biden’s election” and “betraying Trump.” 

A poll conducted between May 21 and 24 showed Evette holding a slight edge over Wilson, 19.9% to his 19.4%, and a third candidate, business executive Rom Reddy who polled at 19%. Mace came in at 14.6% behind U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R), the congressmember who sent the ill-fated text message in January 2021 calling for martial law. 

How Trump’s endorsement will impact Evette’s candidacy in the days ahead of the state’s June 9 primary remains to be seen. But what voters can see is that she has a thoroughly detailed plan for weakening voting rights if elected governor. 

In that plan Evette wants to tighten South Carolina’s voter ID policy by discontinuing the “reasonable impediment” provision, which allows people without picture ID to sign an affidavit and vote via provisional ballot. She also hopes to impose a documented proof of citizenship requirement on the registration process. 

She plans to enhance purging methods by having state courts provide jury information for election officials to check voter data against, and by requiring the state to “pilot the use of commercial data sources to conduct list maintenance.”

Evette also wants to use the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database and to exchange voter data with other states, both of which have been known to falsely flag voters as ineligible to vote. 

The plan includes a proposal to create an “Election Integrity Unit” within South Carolina’s law enforcement division to police and investigate claims of voter fraud – though voter fraud findings are exceedingly rare. 

None of the other top gubernatorial candidates’ campaign websites share plans as detailed as Evette’s on elections, and most don’t even mention the issue. 

Reddy’s policy platform says he supports proof of citizenship for voter registration and calls for a physical signature included on every ballot cast in person. 

Wilson’s campaign page provides an oblique statement about “standing with President Trump” that references his assistance in Trump’s 2020 election reversal agenda. 

“[Wilson is] the only candidate who has stood with Trump through the organized witch hunts, sham impeachments, and political prosecutions,” reads his campaign site. “Democrats even tried to take his law license for supporting Trump after the 2020 election. As Governor, he will continue to fight alongside the President.”

Despite the fact that Wilson signed onto a brief in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s outrageous lawsuit to cancel the 2020 election results, he’s had to go on defense in this year’s race against Evette’s attacks. 

While he was nearly disbarred for aiding with that 2020 lawsuit, that still wasn’t enough to get Trump’s endorsement – perhaps because, as Evette has pointed out, Wilson eventually admitted to Biden being the valid election winner.

The snub has reinforced the idea that only complete repudiation of 2020’s election outcome counts as worthy in Trump’s political universe.