In South Carolina, both the state constitution and the state code of laws prohibit a person from holding two offices simultaneously. Exactly what does and doesn’t constitute a case of dual office holding, however, can be a complicated question.
The South Carolina Constitution states this prohibition in two sections — Article VI, Section 3, as well as Article XVII, Section 1A. They both use the same language: “No person may hold two offices of honor or profit at the same time.”
SC Code Section 5-7-180 prohibits dual office holding for municipalities specifically: “no mayor or councilman shall hold any other municipal office or municipal employment while serving the term for which he was elected.”
The challenge lies in defining what an “office of honor or profit” is, because not every appointed or senior governmental position counts as one.
In the 2013 SC Supreme Court case Alexander v. Houston, the Court found that “for purposes of the dual office holding provision, it must be demonstrated that the power of appointment comes from the state, the authority is derived from the law, and the duties are exercised for the benefit of the public [and are] defined, directly or impliedly, by the legislature or through legislative authority.”
As officials work to figure these issues out, they frequently place questions about dual office holding before the Office of the Attorney General. A January 2026 attorney general opinion concluded that serving as executive director of a joint regional sewer authority and as a member of a city planning commission would not be dual office holding, as the executive director position is an employee position and not an “office.” An August 2025 opinion stated that simultaneous service on a county hospital board and county elections commission would be dual office holding.
Offices covered by the prohibition
- Elected offices – any publicly elected position is an office of honor or profit.
- Appointed seats – Seats on boards or commissions that are created by state law usually count as offices of honor or profit. For example, appointed positions on planning commissions, boards of zoning appeals, and housing authorities are among these offices.
- Specific employment positions created by state law – Positions such as municipal clerks, managers and clerks of court count among these offices.
- Positions involving significant governmental power under state law – In particular, positions with law enforcement powers, such as police officers, sheriffs or deputy sheriffs, generally constitute positions of honor or profit.
Exceptions to the dual-office-holding rule
Ex-officio positions, which allow service in a second office that exists “by virtue of or because of” service in the first office, create an important exception to the prohibition. The SC Supreme Court affirmed this in the 2013 case SC Public Interest Foundation v. SC Transportation Infrastructure Bank, which considered whether members of the General Assembly could serve on the infrastructure bank’s board.
One example of an ex-officio position is the South Carolina governor serving on boards and commissions by virtue of election to the office of governor. State law also exempts service as a board member on a council of governments from being an office for dual-office-holding purposes.
Enforcement of the rule
The courts enforce the dual office rule by holding that a person who accepts a second office automatically vacates the prior office. For example, if a person who has an appointment to a planning commission is later elected to a school board, then the courts deem the person to have resigned from the planning commission upon the election.