October 15: NAACP and ACLU Lawsuit and Senate Redistricting Meeting on Maps

October 15: NAACP and ACLU Lawsuit and Senate Redistricting Meeting on Maps

What would fair South Carolina maps look like?
Type: 
Blog Post

October 15, 2021

Redistricting Lawsuit

Civil rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the South Carolina Legislature’s delay in drawing new redistricting maps. Although redistricting work was begun by the Senate at an encouraging pace, it has since become apparent that the overall process in the General Assembly may be unnecessarily delayed, causing problems adversely affecting both candidates and voters in the 2022 elections.

This lawsuit has been brought on behalf of the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and individual voters, who are represented by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (LDF), the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of South Carolina, Boroughs Bryant LLC, and Arnold & Porter.

Further information on this suit including a link to the full complaint is posted at https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/civil-rights-groups-file-federal-lawsuit-over-south-carolina-redistricting-failures/

Senate Maps

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Redistricting Subcommittee will meet on Thursday, October 21, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. in Room 308 of the Gressette Building. The purpose of this meeting is to receive public testimony about submitted plans to them by external organizations. The Senate has also posted maps of Senate districts at https://redistricting.scsenate.gov/plansubmission.html.

Maps have been submitted by Elias Valentin for Blue Dot sC, John Kraljevich for the York County Democratic Party, John Sukovich for Newberry County Democrats, Leah Aden for the NAACP LDF, Lynn Teague for LWVSC, Michael Roberts, and Teresa Harper for the Aiken County Democratic Party.

Questions should be directed to subcommittee staff, including Michelle McGee at 803 212-6634 and MichelleMcGee [at] scsenate.gov.

Further information on the meeting and arrangements for testimony is included in thePDF icon press release. 

Voters should decide elections, not legislators. #WeAreWatching. 
 
Lynn
Lynn Shuler Teague
Vice President, Issues and Action
League of Women Voters of South Carolina

 

 

League of Women Voters of South Carolina  criteria:

Drawing new district lines at all levels following the decennial census to reflect strict anti-gerrymandering standards. We believe that criteria for the map-drawing process:
 
  • should exclude partisan and incumbent protection
  • should not be drawn with the intention of reducing competitiveness
  • should avoid splitting counties and precincts when possible
 
League to which this content belongs: 
South Carolina