SC Daily Gazette

Bill S.1095 treats every South Carolinian who can become pregnant as a second-class citizen whose body is subject to the demands of the state. It is intended less to protect children than to redefine the role of girls and women in the family and in society to conform to the wishes of a minority whose views are rooted in fundamentalist religious dogma and personal preferences regarding gender roles.

These have no place in our laws. South Carolina must trust its people, not legislators, to make the medically and ethically complex decisions that surround pregnancy.

WYFF4 TV

On Wednesday, South Carolina House members signed an agreement that could keep lawmakers in Columbia even longer, with the goal of redistricting. Lynn Teague, South Carolina League of Women Voters, says redistricting is a double-edged sword for the Republican leaders pushing for it, making CD-6 adjacent districts more competitive.

"We are concerned that voters will be discouraged, will believe the maps have been further rigged, will believe that it's not worth voting. That is wrong. Maps based on past expectations can be washed away in a flood of new voters or returning voters ."

Charleston City Paper/The Statehouse Report

With just three business days left in the legislative session, Republicans in the South Carolina Senate tapped the brakes Thursday on a last-minute plan to gerrymander 17-term Democratic U.S. Rep. James Clyburn out of his congressional seat. But regardless of any political outcomes either way, S.C. League of Women Voters Vice President Lynn Teague said her group opposes the proposed redistricting.

“Convincing people to vote when they’ve seen conscious, obvious, blatant attempts to rig the maps is just very hard,” Teague said. “The constitutional purpose is to see to it that all the people of South Carolina are represented in Washington. And this would send exactly the wrong message.”

A coalition of 11 leading environmental and advocacy organizations, including the League of Women Voters of South Carolina, filed an amicus curiae brief on April 20 in the South Carolina Supreme Court, urging the Court to uphold the legal doctrine of public importance standing. The brief promotes consistency and fairness in the legal system, ensuring that cases involving broad public harm – such as pollution, habitat destruction or mismanagement of public trust resources – can be heard in court.

WIS 10 TV

South Carolina has agreed to share some voter data with the U.S. Department of Justice after nearly a year of negotiations. State election officials said the agreement includes safeguards, but some voters and advocates have questions. Lynn Teague, LWVSC Vice President, Issues and Action, has questioned whether the federal government has a role to play. “The League of Women Voters would prefer that this process not happen,” she said. “But given that it has happened, we believe that the state has actually done a sound job of protecting voters from the information that we have.” Teague added that ballots remain secretive, but said the real test in this case will come with time and implementation. Watch the interview.

The State

The LLC-based donation structure is becoming more common in politics. And finance campaign experts say it gives donors who can give more a big advantage. Instead of giving just once, the same donors can give again and again through different LLCs. Because each counts as a separate donor, they can legally give far more than the $1,000 limit — multiplying their influence. Additionally, identifying the people behind an LLC can be difficult. That makes it hard for the public to know who is funding candidates since a specific name or easily searchable business isn’t attached to the contribution.

“Transparency matters because you need to be able to see if there’s a direct connection between the dollars that are being spent to keep somebody in office and how they carry out their official duties,” said Lynn Teague, the vice president at South Carolina’s chapter of the League of Women voters.

Understanding good governance is like working on creating a great recipe. A big part of getting that recipe “right” is protecting that “mix,” enabling everyone to contribute and accomplish League goals. As part of good governance, local Leagues should consider investing in Directors and Officers (D&O) liability insurance to cover directors and officers from all actions and decisions in the course of their duties and the costs associated with legal defense.

Op Ed

South Carolina is heading into a year that will shape our direction for a long time. Primaries on June 9 and the general election on November 3 will determine leadership across statewide offices: the people who influence voter access, how citizenship is verified, how families navigate school choice, how bodily autonomy is defined, how income‑tax policy hits household budgets, and how agriculture adjusts to a changing economy.

Across the state, the rooms where these conversations are happening tell their own story. When you are in the room, you can see how someone listens, how they handle a tough question, how they treat people whose identities they perceive as different from their own. You can learn a lot from a handshake—and from the choice not to offer one.