As voters head to the polls Tuesday, one of the decisions they will be asked to make is whether the governor and lieutenant governor should run on the same ticket in future elections.
COLUMBIA (WACH / AP) - As voters head to the polls Tuesday, one of the decisions they will be asked to make is whether the governor and lieutenant governor should run on the same ticket in future elections.
Right now, the candidates for the two offices run separately on different tickets. It would be possible for a Republican to be nominated as governor and a Democrat to be nominated as lieutenant governor, or vice versa.
If voters green light Amendment One, it would take effect in 2018, and candidates for governor would choose running mates.
A "yes" vote would also mean that the senate would elect a president to preside over the senate from among its members.
Gov. Nikki Haley blasted senators in April for pushing the change past what could be her second term.
Senators say they did it so that the restructuring is not about a specific person.
"Amendment One is really about bringing the Lt. Governor and the Governor together on the same ticket. The reason that's important, of course, is for the last couple of terms, we've had Lt. Governors who people have been a little unhappy about," said USC political science professor, Mark Tompkins.
Earlier this year, former Lt. Gov. Ken Ard pled guilty to violating state ethics laws hours after resigning from the post.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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