COLUMBIA, S.C. — A bill making the electric chair the default method of execution in South Carolina has again passed the state Senate.
Senators voted 26-13 Wednesday to switch the main way executions are performed from lethal injection to electrocution. The bill moves to the House, where a similar proposal died last year.
[RELATED: South Carolina Senate approves electric chair for executions]
South Carolina has not executed anyone since 2011, in part because the state's supply of lethal injection drugs expired and prison officials have been unable to buy a new supply. Under the Senate proposal, inmates could choose electrocution if drugs are available.
The bill also allows inmates to choose a firing squad.
South Carolina currently has 35 death row inmates. Current law allows them to choose the electric chair, but the state has had just two electrocutions since 1996.
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Associated Press
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