Shortly after the U. S. Supreme Court rejected the North Carolina and Maryland cases involving gerrymandering, Sam Wang of The New York Times wrote, “If the Supreme Court Won’t Prevent Gerrymandering, Who Will? We now know the answer: it is up to each state. The League of Women Voters (LWVUS) responded by kicking off a nationwide People Powered Fair Maps campaign to tackle partisan gerrymandering which is the process of drawing voting districts to favor an incumbent or one political party over another. Both Democrats and Republicans love this system when they are in power and hate it when they’re not because it is inherently unfair. We need to take the map-drawing responsibility out of the hands of the SC Legislature in 2021 and give it to an independent redistricting commission that will draw our districts based on transparent, impartial criteria. We believe that South Carolina House Bill H. 3054 to establish a S.C. Independent Redistricting Commission is the best way to accomplish the goal of making sure the best interests of all voters come first. Read more...
Voters should elect their representatives; representatives should not pick their voters.
We want to step up our efforts to educate both voters and legislators about the issues surrounding gerrymandering and the need for an independent redistricting commission in our state.
We need your help.
We will train volunteers, as needed, about the issues of redistricting, how gerrymandering negatively impacts citizens' rights to fair and equitable elections, and what we and our elected officials can do to stop gerrymandering in our state.
To learn more about this campaign to end gerrymandering and become part of this change effort, please contact mary.ann.bromley [at] gmail.com (MaryAnn Bromley), LWVHHI-BA, State Issues & Advocacy Chair.
The League of Women Voters of South Carolina has also initiated a blog, VOTERSRULE2020, to help readers follow the status of state redistricting efforts. Read more about it. Join the team!
