South Carolina is one of the states that must get U.S. Justice Department approval before it changes any election law. On August 14, the ACLU sued South Carolina on behalf of the United Citizens Party, under the Voting Rights Act. During the Green Party litigation in South Carolina, the public and the attorneys learned that in April 2008, South Carolina’s Election Commission had changed its interpretation of a state law that requires a candidate for a partisan office in a primary to file a declaration of candidacy. The old interpretation was that a candidate seeking the nomination of two or more parties only had to file one declaration of candidacy. The new, more restrictive, interpretation is that the candidate must file a declaration of candidacy for each party.

The lawsuit says that South Carolina should have asked for U.S. Justice Department approval for this change, but failed to do so. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news. The new lawsuit is Gray v South Carolina State Election Commission, 3:09-cv-02126.