“E” is for Election Act (1716). This act ended the tradition, begun in 1692, of holding all elections for the Commons House of Assembly in Charleston. The act laid out voting requirements and electoral districts. Each candidate for the Commons House was required to reside in the area he was to represent and to be worth £500 currency. A voter had to be male, white, Christian, twenty-one years of age, at least six months in residency, and worth £30. Voting was managed by wardens of each Anglican parish church. Although popular among Carolinians, the act was disallowed by the Lords Proprietors in an attempt to reestablish their authority in the colony. In 1721, the Commons House of Assembly passed a modified Election Act, that with minor revisions, established election procedures in South Carolina until the Revolutionary War.
“E” is for Election Act (1716)
