Sun News. “Any change to the state’s election laws requires approval from the U.S. Justice Department because of the 1969 [SIC] Voting Rights Act, and Justice Department officials can take up to 60 days to make a decision. South Carolina’s Republican and Democratic primaries are scheduled for June 6 – 29 days away. Lawmakers will meet Tuesday to try to address the problem. “The big obstacle is we don’t control our own destiny,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said Monday. “We’re going to make a good-faith effort to convince them to expedite any change we make to the benefit of affected candidates … assuming we can get it passed.”