S.C. House candidate says he plans to fight being decertified by Democratic Party

Matthew Christian, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

May 13—An Aiken County man running for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives says he plans to fight being decertified by the South Carolina Democratic Party.

House District 82 candidate Brian "Ryan B" Doyle said in a statement received by the Aiken Standard on Friday morning that he will fight the decertification and take that fight to the South Carolina Supreme Court if necessary.

The South Carolina Democratic Party sent a letter to the South Carolina Election Commission earlier this week decertifying Doyle from the District 82 race. In the letter, Party Chairman Trav Robertson said Doyle refused to provide documentation to prove his eligibility for the race.

Doyle questioned the constitutionality of the provisions preventing people from running for office until 15 years after the completion of their sentence including any probation.

He argued that if the "Bible belt" South Carolina Supreme Court would uphold the verdict in Roe v. Wade, the case determining that a state government can't excessively restrict access to abortions, then it would have to uphold the state constitution.

Doyle said in his email that there isn't a place in the state's original constitution or the one drafted after the Civil War that limits people from running for office. "It was not until 1996 that changes were made to the South Carolina Constitution for self-serving purposes," Doyle said.

Robertson referenced two sections of the Constitution in his letter to the South Carolina Election Commission neither of which were amended in 1996. Also, the 1868 South Carolina Constitution says in Article II, Section 10 that no one convicted of an infamous crime is eligible for a seat in the South Carolina General Assembly.

"So if the draft of Roe v. Wade stands, then the founders of the two original constitutions I believe [written in] 1895 and 1776 make no mention of disqualifications for office," Doyle continues. "I must go to the High Court."

He adds that a person must believe that if the "Bible belt Supreme Court in South Carolina" would uphold Roe v. Wade that the court would uphold the state constitution.

Doyle also said that he wasn't provided a copy of anything regarding his decertification and referenced his 2010 suit against the Democratic Party and Bill Clyburn, the man he's running against in House District 82.

Doyle lost that suit when he couldn't prove that the Democratic Party was a state actor or that Clyburn was the reason he was fired from his job as a radio host.