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TANF POLICY MANUAL

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1. Distributing voter registration forms; 2. Providing assistance in completing voter registration forms; 3. Accepting completed voter registration application forms and sending them to the county board of voter registration and elections; and 4. Providing State of South Carolina Voter Registration by Mail applications to clients who specifically request a mail-in application.

Local DSS county offices will forward completed paper voter registration forms weekly (or as scheduled) to the local Election Commission office.

When providing voter registration services, the Agency must not: 1. Seek to influence an individual's political preference or party registration 2. Express or display any political preference or party allegiance 3. Discourage the individual in any manner from registering to vote 4. Indicate or imply that registration or non-registration will influence the availability or amount of DSS assistance or benefits.

PROCEDURE

At initial application and annual redetermination, the interviewer should ask the client if he/she is registered to vote and record the answer in the appropriate field on the documentation tool. If the client is not registered to vote, the following should occur:

1. The interviewer should ask the client if he/she wants to register to vote. 2. If the PI indicates that he/she does not wish to register, CHIP Screen ADDR should be coded “D”; (declined to register) in the PI Voter Status Field. 3. If the PI indicates that he/she does wish to register, the interviewer will inform the client that: a. An Agency-based Application for Voter Registration (Form 210) will be mailed to the client; or b. If the client does not want to use the Form 210 to register to vote, the worker can mail the client a South Carolina Voter Registration – Mail Application (which can be located at the website https://www.SCvotes.gov/ since this is not a DSS form).

4. CHIP screen ADDR should be coded “A” (registering) in the PI Voter Status Field. If the client indicates that he/she wishes to register to vote through DSS, the worker will mail the client the Agency-based Application for Voter Registration (Form 210) for completion.