Flickr photo by Ken Lund
The South Carolina Senate on Monday voted by a big margin to remove the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds.
The final tally was 37 to three in favor of removing the controversial symbol that has come under fire after the shooting deaths of nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston by alleged gunman Dylan Roof.
If the two-thirds majority needed to take down the flag holds during a third procedural vote on Tuesday, then the bill will be sent to the state’s House of Representatives. If the bill passes both chambers, South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to sign the bill into law after publicly calling for the flag to come down from the state Capitol grounds.
