Tonight: We’re releasing our maps!

Join us virtually tonight (RSVP to receive the zoom link via email) as we release our proposed maps for SC Congressional, Senate, and House Districts! We’ll also discuss our process and give the latest update on legislative redistricting. You’ll leave prepared to evaluate maps that the legislature proposes, and advocate for fair maps! Legislators are

#WeAreWatching

This week, the SC Senate’s Redistricting Subcommittee announced their first organizational meeting, scheduled for July 20 at 10:30 AM. This meeting will be in advance of the release of Census data (slated for August 16). The SC House will follow suit, and has announced an August 3 meeting. The meeting will be livestreamed on http://www.scstatehouse.gov.

Meet the Members of our Redistricting Advisory Committee!

For several years, the League of Women Voters of South Carolina has advocated for the SC Legislature to form an Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC), which would have taken the responsibility for drawing new district lines in 2020 out of legislators’ hands. It is fair to say that no matter what party is in charge, asking

We need your input: What is YOUR community of interest?

When drawing new districts, map drawers are tasked with considering many criteria. Some are fairly clear; for example, districts should be contiguous. Some are legally mandated; districts should comply with the Voting Rights Act. Some seem easy to envision but harder to define when you start analyzing. For instance, we say districts should be compact,

Take Action: Ask Congress to Pass the For the People Act (H.R. 1)

To the voters and advocates who are disappointed with the lack of action on redistricting reform at the SC Statehouse – may we ask you to temporarily direct your attention to Congress? For the second session in a row, a bill has been introduced in Congress that would modernize our elections with a series of

Announcement: LWVSC Forming 2021 Redistricting Advisory Committee

Elections should be decided in the voting booth, not the map room. In 2021, following the release of the decennial census data, legislative district lines must be redrawn to account for population changes, so that each district includes approximately the same number of people. Since 2012, the SC Legislature has declined consideration of bills creating

Criteria for Redistricting: A Foundation for Democracy (Or Not)

Here’s the release of our recommended redistricting criteria PLUS don’t miss another important announcement at the end of this post! Ideally, legislators have no role in drawing the districts that they hope to represent. Drawing their own lines allows them to choose their voters instead of allowing voters to choose their representatives. However, the South

A Sneak Peek at South Carolina Population Changes

While we await formal census data that will be required for the redistricting process to begin (likely in a special legislative session), we can get a “sneak peak” of the population changes that will necessitate new district lines. Since legislative districts must legally include approximately the same number of people, areas that experience population growth

Supreme Court permits early end to census count

On Tuesday, October 13, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could end the door-to-door counting phase of the census on October 15, two weeks earlier than originally planned. The administration had originally extended the deadline for counting from the end of July to the end of October in response to the pandemic. Later,

Witness Signature Whiplash

South Carolina has long had a requirement for mail-in absentee ballots that the ballot envelope be signed by the voter and by a witness. For the June primary, a federal judge struck down the witness requirement on the grounds that during the pandemic emergency, the requirement would place some voters in danger. The state election