June 19, 2007
For Immediate Release

S.C. Democratic Party Statement on the General Assembly Overriding Sanford's Presidential Primary Funding Veto

Columbia, SC - The South Carolina General Assembly today overrode Governor Mark Sanford's veto of S. 99, which requires the State Election Commission to pay for and operate the 2008 presidential primaries in the state.  South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler released the following statement:

"This is a victory for the voters of South Carolina, no matter what their party loyalty.  Every voter should have confidence that he or she will be able to cast a vote and have it counted properly, and the best way to accomplish that is with professionally run elections.

"The Democratic Party has done an outstanding job in the past of putting on presidential primaries using our volunteers, but turning the task over to the pros will insure that this important election is carried out without the kind of glitches that might happen with inexperienced poll managers.

"We appreciate very much that our Democratic legislators stuck together on this issue from the beginning, and that legislators of both parties put aside partisanship to accomplish something important for South Carolinians."

Contact:  Patrick Norton - 803-799-7798 - pnorton@scdp.org