S.C. voters will decide on three amendments

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ South Carolina will ask voters to take a gamble on the stock market this Election Day.

At issue is whether the state and local governments should be allowed to invest in stocks to pay for future retirees' health care and other benefits, something already done in many other states.

Supporters say stocks remain one of the best ways to make money over decades, but acknowledge voters may be thinking of the huge losses they saw when they opened up 401(k) statements in recent weeks.

"I'm sure with what's going on now, there will be a lot of apprehension. But if you separate it from your personal finances, you see this is by far the best move. It's lots of money spread out by bright investors over a long period," said Broadus Jamerson, executive director of the South Carolina State Employees Association.

The investments will appear as two separate amendments for voters to consider Nov. 4. One would allow state government to invest the benefit money in stocks, and the other would give similar power to local governments. While actual pension money is invested partially in stocks now, the benefit funds only can be put in investments such as bonds and certificates of deposit, which are less risky but tend to grow slowly.

A third amendment on the ballot would clean up the state constitution by getting rid of a long-ignored provision that sets the age of consent for sex at 14 for unmarried women. State law sets the age of consent at 16.

While the sputtering stock market might harm the investment amendments' chances, all three have South Carolina's political history behind them. Such amendments, which have been discussed little before Election Day, usually pass with at least 60 percent of the vote, said Blease Graham, a University of South Carolina political science professor who was taught at the school for nearly 40 years.

The amendments must get support from two-thirds of lawmakers just to get on the ballot, so the measures already have overwhelming support from some of the most politically active members of their communities.

Lawmakers put the investment proposals on the ballot earlier this year after a federal regulation required governments have enough money to pay the benefits of all employees at one time, even if the workers are years away from retirement. Officials used to just pay benefits such as health and dental insurance for retirees as the bills came in.

If the amendments don't pass, governments warn they will have to raise taxes or trim spending to make sure they have enough money to abide by the new rules.

Charleston, for example, would need to put an additional $800,000 each year into its benefit fund for retirees if the amendment fails. That's on top of the $1.1 million Charleston currently puts into the fund each year, said Stephen Bedard, chief financial officer for the city.

"If this doesn't pass, it's going to cost a lot of governments in South Carolina a lot of money," Bedard said.

Voters have given the state more latitude to invest before. In 1996, more than 73 percent of South Carolina's voters decided to allow pension money to be put into stocks, overturning the 1895 state constitution ban on such investments instituted after South Carolina lost money in a post-Civil War railroad swindle. In 2006, 71 percent of voters agreed to let pension money be invested in overseas companies.

The market's recent downturn has affected South Carolina retirement fund, which lost 2.6 percent of its value in the 12 months ending June 30, according to the most recent data available from the state Retirement System Investment Commission.

But the figures also show better news in the long term. In the past five years, the fund has earned 6.3 percent on its investments, with even higher rates of return on its stocks. At the end of 2007, the five-year return was nearly 9 percent.

Rep. Herb Kirsh, who sponsored the amendment in the House, is telling anyone who asks that the stock mar- ket is a great deal long term.

He talks about his stock club, which has made $1.7 million in the past 20 years by requiring its 42 members to invest at least $40 a month. Kirsh and his friends usually put in more money than required, and the lawmaker said he just bought 1,000 shares in several troubled stocks he expects to soar once the economy starts to go back up.

"I've got a lot of money in this. I'm like the state. I'm in it for the long haul," said Kirsh, D-Clover.

The other constitutional amendment up for a vote would delete a provision in the South Carolina Constitution that sets the age of consent for unmarried women at 14.

State law sets the age of consent for both sexes at 16. The 113-year-old constitutional provision has been ignored for several decades after a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling gave lawmakers permission to set the age wherever they wanted, state attorney general's office spokesman Mark Plowden said.

Sen. Chip Campsen said the amendment cleans up the constitution, comparing this year's choice to an amendment that passed with 62 percent of the vote in 1998 that got rid of the constitution's ban on interracial marriage, which at that time hadn't been enforced in more than 30 years.

"This remains from a kind of pre-industrial age, where girls would get married when they were 14. They lived on the farm all their life, didn't go to school much and got married early," said Campsen, R-Isle of Palms. "I don't believe anybody in this state, except maybe somebody who is a child molester, thinks it should be 14."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

Absentee voter information

Here are dates to keep in mind if you need to vote absentee:

- If you are mailing your absentee ballot application to the voter registration office, the office must have your application by 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31. Also, you can drop off the application in person at the voter registration office until that date.

- Once the office has your application, your ballot will be mailed to you. Your ballot must be back to the voter registration office by 7 p.m. on Nov. 4, Election Day. Cherokee County residents may either mail or hand-deliver their ballot to the local office.

- Absentee voting is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. Absentee voting will end at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3. Go to www.scvotes.org for a list of qualifications.

The Voter Registration office is located at 1434 N. Limestone St., Peachtree Center, Room 1008, on the first floor. For more information call 864-487- 2563 or visit www.cherokeecountysc. com or the S.C. Election Commission website at www.scvotes.org.