Judge rules on Columbia election

Columbia City Council schedules an election but makes it impossible for voters to register to vote in that election.

But if council were to reschedule the election 27,000 people would not have representation when council members decide how to spend $106 million in taxpayer money next year.

Those are some of the issues before Circuit Judge James Barber, who is being asked to decide when the city can hold an election to replace former District 2 Councilman E.W. Cromartie. Cromartie resigned last week amid charges he did not pay his federal income taxes and lied to the IRS about it.

Barber heard arguments Thursday morning, later telling attorneys he would try to issue a ruling today.

Lawyers representing two District 2 residents laid out their cases for Barber at the Richland County courthouse.

Jay Bender is representing Paul Denman, a retired banker who lives in District 2 and is asking Barber to halt the April 6 election.

Butch Bowers is representing Durham Carter, president of the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association who is asking Barber to order the city to hold the election on April 6.

Thursday afternoon, Barber called the attorneys back to his chambers for a private meeting to ask some follow-up questions and said he would try to issue a ruling today.

Barber asked the attorneys for their opinions on two issues: what the state constitution has to say about how much notice voters should be given for an election and the U.S. Justice Department's role in approving the election.

The questions stemmed from the attorneys' arguments earlier in open court.

City Council scheduled the election for April 6 because of a state law that says: "A vacancy in the office of mayor or council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term at the next regular election or at a special election if the vacancy occurs one hundred eighty days or more prior to the next general election."

Cromartie resigned March 9, 29 days before the city's next regular election, on April 6. The State Election Commission told council members they had to comply with that law as long as it was technically possible to print the ballots in time.

Bender attacked that reasoning, saying city officials were asking the wrong question.

"That's what democracy is. It's not: 'How long will it take us to get the ballot printed?' It's: 'Do the citizens have the opportunity to participate fully?'" Bender said.

By scheduling the election in 28 days, the city made it impossible for people to register to vote for the election if they are not already registered. State law says voters must be registered 30 days before an election.

But Bowers said postponing the election would deny residents representation at the time they need it most. That fact alone would trigger the U.S. Justice Department to throw out the election because it would violate the Voting Rights Act, Bowers said.

"If you leave District 2 citizens underrepresented for a period of time longer than the statute requires, then that impermissibly has a negative impact and a discriminatory impact," said Bowers, who, from 2007 to 2008, was an attorney for the Justice Department, advising others on election law and the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.

Barber was silent for most of the hearing but did challenge Bowers on his statement that District 2 residents would go without representation, because not everyone on the seven-member council is elected from a district.

"(Three) of the people up there are elected citywide. I would hope that even ones from the other single-member districts are not so blind they won't consider the issues that might affect anybody in the city of Columbia," Barber said.

Bowers responded by saying that, if that were the case, the city never would have added four single-member districts in the early 1980s.

Carter, Bowers' client, led the charge for single-member districts in Columbia at a time when City Council had five members, all white and all from a well-to-do neighborhood.

"Before 1980, I fought for single-member districts in this city," Carter said after the hearing. "To be denied it, I thought that was against my constitutional rights."

As for not giving voters enough time to register to vote, Carter said his voter registration card is dated Oct. 26, 1967.

"You've been in this district and you just wait until the District 2 seat became vacant to get registered to vote?" he said. "I have problems with that."

Outside the courtroom, political tensions rose in the case, which some say highlights the racial divide in the capital city.

Denman supports the mayoral candidacy of Steve Morrison, who has said he does not want the city to hold the District 2 election on April 6.

"This is about Steve Morrison, who showed up and said the people in District 2 do not know enough to decide who they want to represent them on April 6," said state Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, who attended Thursday's hearing. "It is a majority-black district, and somebody who does not live in the district is telling the community leaders who are here from their district that they don't know any better. And (Morrison) found one of his supporters who happens to live in District 2, and he used him as a straw man to come up here and do all of this."

Morrison, an attorney, denied having any connection with the case. Denman was not immediately available for comment.

Also, Bowers' law firm donated money to Councilman Kirkman Finlay's mayoral campaign, Finlay said. Finlay also denied having any connection with the lawsuit.

The filing period for candidates for the District 2 seat ends at noon today.

This story was originally published March 19, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Judge rules on Columbia election."