SLED: Freedom Caucus accusations on noncitizen voter registration are false

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COLUMBIA — Accusations by a South Carolina GOP legislator that agencies were “attempting to register noncitizens to vote” were false, the State Law Enforcement Division reported Thursday following a review. 

The state’s top law enforcement agency concluded that the allegation is “unfounded.”

The report confirmed what officials with the state’s Medicaid and election agencies have been saying since Rep. Adam Morgan, who’s running for Congress, posted on social media two weeks ago that a noncitizen refugee was provided voter registration information. The House Freedom Caucus, which Morgan leads, followed up with its own posts demanding an investigation into the state’s Medicaid agency for “misspending taxpayer funds to illegally register non-citizens to vote.”

The posts prompted a slew of calls and even some threats to the State Election Commission. 

Gov. Henry McMaster, who asked SLED to “evaluate the authenticity” of Morgan’s claims, said the preliminary report “confirmed the integrity of South Carolina’s voter registration system.”

“Agencies are properly complying with state and federal voter registration laws, and no evidence of unlawful activity was found,” McMaster wrote Thursday on X/Twitter, noting the report confirms an audit released earlier this year on state elections. 

Under federal law, people receiving government benefits from the state must be provided with voter registration information regardless of citizenship, SLED noted in releasing the report.

“Further, the first question on the South Carolina Voter Registration form asks, “Are you a citizen of the United States of America?” If you check “No,” the form clearly states in bold, “DO NOT complete this form,” SLED said in a one-paragraph synopsis of the 276-page report with attachments.

Morgan initially posted a photo April 29 on X of a voter declination form, which he said was given to a noncitizen refugee in his district whose family contacted him. The form in the posted photo, which is not a registration form, asks recipients of government aid if they want to register to vote and asks them to check a box.

Morgan brought it up again on the House floor during last week’s budget debate, as he unsuccessfully proposed inserting a ban on state agencies distributing forms to noncitizens about voter registration. 

According to the SLED report, signed by Lt. Jeremy Smith who conducted many of the interviews, the information made its way to Morgan from Natayla Camp, a U.S. citizen in Spartanburg who came from Ukraine 21 years ago. 

About a year ago, Camp sponsored her mother, sister and two nephews to come to the United States as part of a temporary resettlement program. The family received government assistance from a number of agencies, along with the declination form with a voter registration form on the back.

The report includes a partially filled out voter registration form from one of the family members, on which the family member hand-wrote “I’m noncitizen of USA.”

“Camp was very concerned that her sister was a non-citizen and was receiving a voter registration form in the mail,” according to a memo attached to the report. “Lt. Smith examined the form and read the first box out loud that explained if you were a non-citizen, you DO NOT complete the form.”

Morgan became involved after Camp reached out to a local candidate for county council, who then notified Morgan. 

Smith concluded that the family was eligible to apply for government benefits and that the voter registration information was in compliance with federal laws. 

Morgan did not respond to the Gazette for requests for comment.

But he told The State newspaper that SLED didn’t do the investigation he wanted.

“I’m thrilled that they didn’t find any actually fraud, but I do hope that they actually do the investigation which we requested, which is that the inspector general investigate the agency which repeatedly sent these forms to non-citizens,” Morgan told the newspaper. “I think it’s great the governor went above and beyond and had SLED see if anyone was registered fraudulently, but that’s not the information that I brought to them.”

The 4th District congressman Morgan’s trying to oust had his own take.

“Adam Morgan was just caught in a lie,” Rep. Williams Timmons of Greenville wrote on X. “As a result of Morgan’s claims, tax dollars were wasted, and SC election workers faced death threats. It’s clearer than ever, Adam doesn’t deserve a promotion to Congress.”

Morgan lashed back on X, accusing Timmons of attacking him for “blowing the whistle” and saying the SLED investigation ultimately “corroborated that non-citizens are being sent registration forms, and it’s required by federal law!”

A spokesman for the state Election Commission said the report confirms “what we have been saying about this all along.

“Elections in South Carolina are secure, accurate, and transparent,” said spokesman John Michael Catalano. “Ultimately, the report speaks for itself.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with Morgan’s response to the SLED report. 

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