Dec. 10 (UPI) — A South Carolina atheist is suing for the right to serve as a poll worker without having to swear an oath to God.
James Reel alleges a requirement that citizens make a statement of belief in a monotheistic deity or forgo working at the polls violates the constitutional rights of nontheists or those who worship more than one deity.
The Greenville County resident became passionate about defending the American form of governing after observing negative political rhetoric during the 2020 election designed to undermine public trust in the electoral process, according to his suit. Reel decided to train as a poll worker.
But after completing three online courses in December 2023 and beginning in-person training, Reel learned he would be required to take an oath that ends with “so help me God.” He asked instead to be allowed to use a secular affirmation, which is a solemn vow without reference to a religious deity, but election officials denied the request.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit based in Madison, Wis., stepped in last year to help.
In letters to the South Carolina Election Commission and the Greenville County Voter Registration and Elections Board in late 2024 and early 2025, foundation staff attorney Madeline Ziegler said Reel does not want to profess a belief in a god, “which would make a mockery out of the oath and the solemn promise to support both the federal and state constitutions.”
The distinction between an oath and affirmation is critical because the opportunity to substitute an affirmation is required under federal law, Ziegler said.
“Article 6 of the United States Constitution prohibits the government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office, including to volunteer as a poll worker,” she wrote.
The required oath of office for public officials is in Article III, Section 26 of the South Carolina Constitution and in Title 7, Chapter 13 of the state code.
It says: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified, according to the Constitution of this State, to exercise the duties of the office to which I have been appointed, and that I will, to the best of my ability, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States. So help me God.”
To be appointed as a poll worker, state code requires citizens to take a training course conducted by one of the 46 county boards of voter registration and elections. Howard Knapp, the now former executive director of the election commission, said current policies and procedures make no particular reference to the contents of the oath, which must be signed by the prospective poll worker.
Although the commission has the authority to set policy on the conduct of elections by the county boards, “this grant of authority does not extend to a power to create election related policies and procedures that contradict explicit statutory requirements, and then instruct the county boards to ignore what is clearly stated in the code,” Knapp said in a January letter.
He added the commission has limited oversight authority over the boards, which are independent county government offices.
Bob Schaffner, chairman of the Greenville County Voter Registration and Elections Board, responded to the foundation that the board is subject to South Carolina laws and standard procedures determined by the State Election Commission in the Poll Manager Handbook issued to all poll workers.
The board is unaware of any specific complaint and the issue has never been raised in his 28 years of service, said Schaffner, who recently retired. He said in a March letter that the South Carolina attorney general might be a better agency to get clarification on state law.
After the requests for a secular affirmation were rejected, South Carolina attorney Steven Edward Buckingham and foundation attorneys Sam Grover and Kyle Steinberg acting as co-counsel filed suit on Reel’s behalf.
The suit, filed Oct. 8 in United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, names as defendants Jenny Wooten, executive director of the South Carolina State Election Commission; Conway Belangia, director of Voter Registration & Elections in Greenville County; and the Greenville County Voter Registration & Elections Board. Wooten and Belangia are being sued in their official capacities.
The lawsuit alleges violations of Article VI and the First Amendment’s free speech, free exercise of religion and establishment of religion clauses. Reel is seeking a permanent injunction against requiring poll workers to swear “so help me God” and the provision of a secular affirmation.
The suit says the state of South Carolina routinely allows attorneys, jurors, witnesses and many others to make a secular affirmation as a matter of conscience.
The oath mandate bars a growing number of people from serving as poll workers, according to the suit, which cites a 2024 Pew Research Center report that says about 28% of the population is religiously unaffiliated. In South Carolina, approximately 16% are unaffiliated.
Foundation Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor called the oath requirement a “discriminatory and blatantly unconstitutional practice.”
“Jim Reel, a veteran who wants to continue serving his community as a poll worker, should be congratulated, not barred simply because he is an atheist,” Gaylor said.
In answers to the suit filed late last month, the defendants deny they are violating individuals’ rights and assert their actions in their official capacity were taken in good faith in compliance with existing state law and the South Carolina Constitution. They also argue they have immunity from being sued and ask that the suit be dismissed.
The lawsuit and foundation letters cite previous complaints about requirements to swear an oath referencing a belief in God to qualify to serve in a position or run for an office.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1961 that the states and the federal government could not force a person to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion because the requirement violated the Constitution.
The justices found in favor of Roy Torcaso, a Maryland man whose appointment as a notary public was revoked after he refused to take an oath declaring the existence of God.
In 1992, Herb Silverman’s application to be a notary public in South Carolina was denied because he crossed out the words “so help me God” on the form. He filed suit, and the state Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that the religious test requirement to hold public office violated the U.S. Constitution.
The foundation has brought two similar lawsuits recently. James Tosone, a nontheist, ran unsuccessfully for the New Jersey Senate in 2017 and 2021 and for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, and each time, he had to swear “so help me God” because there was no secular option for candidates for public office.
Since 2022, Tosone had sought to run for election, but was no longer willing to take the oath. The foundation, which alleged the secretary of state and the state of New Jersey were coercing a statement of belief in a monotheistic deity by requiring nontheists or those who worship more than one deity to swear “so help me God, filed suit in federal court in October 2023. The suit was settled in about a month after the state agreed to adopt a secular affirmation option.
In 2021, the foundation sued Alabama for requiring people who were registering to vote to sign an oath on a form that concluded, “so help me God.” A settlement allowed voters to check a box declining to include those four words.
