Computer glitch in South Carolina means 1,900 teens who otherwise qualified cannot vote: Court

A judge in South Carolina on Friday ruled that nearly 1,900 teenagers, who were 17 when getting their driver's license but would be 18 by Election Day, cannot vote next month because a glitch in the computer system was caught too close to the election.

State employees with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) failed to notify election officials that the teenagers had checked a box to register them to vote, because a glitch in the system meant that the teens were not flagged as qualified, according to the Associated Press. The teens were therefore not presented with another form to confirm their citizenship, and confirm they were not felons so they could vote.

Judge Daniel Coble ruled that it was too close to Election Day to reopen the voter rolls and add the nearly 2,000 new voters. In order to be added, the state would need to identify the teenagers and confirm their eligibility, which takes a lot of time, with early voting already underway.

“There is no effectual relief that this Court could grant and even if it attempted to, the relief sought would create disorder in the voting system,” Coble wrote in his ruling.

Another 6,000 teenagers that were affected by the glitch were successfully added to the voter rolls after checking their voter registration status and noting that it was incomplete. That includes the teenager who flagged the issue.

A lawsuit to reopen the voter rolls was filed by the South Carolina American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday.

“Our government failed these young voters, and now the same government is making excuses rather than making things right. When ‘It’s too hard to fix’ becomes an acceptable reason to disenfranchise voters, we know that there’s work to do,” ACLU of South Carolina Legal Director Allen Chaney said in a statement.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.