Democrats win another voting rights victory as absentee restrictions struck down in South Carolina

On Monday, voting rights attorney Marc Elias reported that a federal court has blocked a restriction on absentee ballots for the upcoming South Carolina primary.

The ruling undoes a requirement that mail-in ballots be accompanied by a witness.

According to the Associated Press, the decision — pursued by voting rights groups in part to reduce the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in polling places — is likely to mean South Carolina sets a record for number of absentee ballots cast, and could mean that tallying the votes could take longer than usual.

"With more than two weeks to go before the primaries, the state had already mailed out 72,000 absentee ballots, which take longer to process and count than in-person votes at the polls, according to figures Friday from the South Carolina Election Commission," said the report. "About 160,000 voters have requested applications for absentee ballots for the June 9 primaries, election officials said."