Statement provided to the Associated Press: 

 

Both the Senate and House maps are shaped in part by demographics that lead to many non-competitive districts in SC. Even the maps drawn by the nonpartisan League show this effect. However, the two houses took different paths forward from that point. 

 

The Senate map shows some effects from incumbent and partisan considerations. However, it is drawn with reasonable concern for communities of interest and it doesn’t reduce the number of competitive districts below those in the current map. There is a shift in partisan proportions that is a product of changing population, not manipulation of the map. On the whole, the Senate hasn’t moved us backward and has done its work with consideration for what they heard from citizens across the state.

 

The House map is much worse. In a statistical evaluation of geometric partisan bias, only 407 of more than 11.8 billion maps were more extreme than that produced by House Judiciary, a major step backward from the current map. Only 9 out of 124 districts would be competitive in November, using a very generous ±5% standard. This is down from 16 in the current map and from 19 in the League map. The lack of competition that begins in population distributions is greatly amplified in the House map.

 

This lack of competition is a very serious threat to representative democracy. General election votes become meaningless because the outcome is certain, or nearly so. This leads to voter apathy. In addition, legislators respond to the people who elected them – the most engaged and often the most extreme voters who show up for their party’s primaries. They have little incentive to respond to a broader swath of the electorate. We can already see the effects of this in South Carolina’s legislative politics and it will become worse.

 

Given this sad reality, South Carolina’s voters must adapt if our politics are not to become ever more toxic. The League will work on educating the public to encourage diverse candidates in primary elections and to participate in primaries in large numbers so that their voices aren’t drowned out by those on the edges of our politics.

 

Vice President, Issues & Advocacy

League of Women Voters of South Carolina