How much will redistricting cost Richland, Lexington counties for extra primary?

Taxpayers from Richland and Lexington counties may have to pay more than half a million collectively this summer for a special August election as South Carolina attempts to redraw its congressional districts.

If South Carolina Republican lawmakers succeed in passing new congressional maps intended to oust U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, counties would likely have to pull off and pay for a second primary election and its runoff.

A proposal speedily making its way through the South Carolina General Assembly pushes just primary congressional elections to Aug. 18. Statewide, state House and local elections would still occur June 9, even if the redistricting bill is signed by the governor.

“A special election is not going to be an inexpensive function for the state,” said Election Commission executive director Conway Belangia on Wednesday.

An additional August statewide primary will likely cost the state $3.5 million, including a runoff election, according to the state Election Commission.

Counties will also likely foot the bill for an August statewide primary, the cost of which hasn’t been budgeted for at a local level, said state Rep. Roger Kirby, D-Florence. An amendment to the redistricting bill proposed by Kirby would make the state reimburse counties for the additional election expense, but it failed Tuesday.

The Election Commission estimated it would cost counties $1.8 million to run an August primary.

“The absolute cost of these elections is extraordinary,” Kirby said. He said rural counties in particular will struggle to pay for the extra expense.

“Now we’re putting additional burdens of hundreds of thousands on our counties,” he continued. “My rural counties cannot afford to do it without help.

Travis Alexander, Richland County’s top election official, said it would cost about $800,000 to run another August primary, which would be partially reimbursed by the state. The county will likely have to cover an estimated $452,000, which includes the cost of creating new ballot styles to account for the new congressional district lines, he said.

Alexander said he has to hire the same amount of poll workers for the June and August primaries, a large election administration expense for counties. Richland County also creates its own ballot styles, he says, a process that typically takes six months.

Alexander said the process couldn’t start until the June primary concludes, so the election staff may have several weeks to create the ballot styles, though Alexander declined to speculate on a timeline. Staff may need to work overtime to manually change district lines in the shortened time frame, another expense, he said.

Paying for an extra congressional election is “absolutely not” in Lexington County’s budget, said county election’s director Lenice Shoemaker. She anticipates an August primary could cost an estimated $390,000, though a portion could be reimbursed.

“This is a really huge undertaking for every county involved,” Shoemaker said.

Kirby presented other counties’ estimated costs to run an extra election in August. Charleston County estimates it will cost $830,000 for the August primary, according to a fiscal impact statement. Lancaster County anticipates it will cost $160,000 to run the primary, plus an additional expenditure for new voter registration cards, according to the report.

Belangia, the state’s top election director, suggested Wednesday the state may still help counties pay for the August primary, if the new congressional maps pass.

“We’re going to try to help out if the legislature will put money there for the counties,” Belangia said during an Election Commission meeting Wednesday. “That doesn’t cover all of their costs, but it gives them a fighting chance to cover the cost that they will have for the August special primaries, if necessary.”