South Carolina’s Republican-dominated Senate has voted to kick the Republican treasurer out of office. The 33-8 vote came Monday after an extraordinary hearing over a $1.8 billion accounting error.
It will now be up to the House, also dominated by the GOP, to decide whether to hold its own hearing. If at least two-thirds of its members vote against Treasurer Curtis Loftis, he will be removed from office.
The accounting error began taking shape when the state changed accounting systems and grew over several years to $1.8 billion. Loftis has called the hearing a witch hunt and noted no actual money went missing.