ACLU among groups monitoring redistricting efforts in SC
Earlier this month the U.S. Census Bureau provided the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico with population counts to use in their redrawing of the electoral district boundaries for representation in Congress, state legislatures, and many county and municipal offices—a process also known as “redistricting.”
According to the 2020 census, South Carolina’s total population grew by 5.1% between 2010 and 2020. Over the coming months, South Carolina politicians will draw new districts for the state’s federal, state, and local representatives.
As the once-in-a-decade redistricting process begins in our community, elected officials have an obligation to ensure that the electoral district boundaries in South Carolina are not sacrificed to self-interest and political parties in the redistricting process. Redistricting must ensure fair and equal representation for all people, upholding the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection and complying with the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Unfortunately, this is not how redistricting has worked in South Carolina. Historically, instead of drawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries that accurately reflect their population, South Carolina, like many states, has drawn maps that are not fair.
This practice, also known as gerrymandering, is a dangerous political tactic. Gerrymandering is the practice of manipulating electoral boundaries to give an unfair political advantage to a particular political party or group. Instead of drawing fair maps, bad actors slice and dice South Carolina’s communities so politicians can pick and choose who they represent.
How can this happen? For South Carolina’s state and federal legislative districts, the South Carolina legislature controls the process for drawing the districts. At the local level, the local jurisdictions (city and county councils and school boards) draw their own district boundaries.
While we may think that voters pick their politicians, South Carolina’s redistricting process allows politicians to pick and choose who they represent before voters even make it to the polls.
Not only does redistricting play a role in the design of the district boundaries for South Carolina congressional, state legislative, and local offices, it plays a vital role in our communities and will affect our day to day lives for the next decade. The drawing of district lines can dictate not only who runs for public office and who is elected, but also how financial resources are allocated for schools, hospitals, roads and more.
South Carolina’s elected representatives have the power to make decisions that greatly impact the communities they represent, from building safer and more just communities to ensuring the state’s response to a global pandemic is based in science and public health rather than politics.
Along with the far-reaching consequences gerrymandering can have on our everyday lives, improper redistricting can result in unequal representation in our voting districts, the dilution of the full voting power of minority voters, and fractured communities. Communities of color, in particular, have faced numerous obstacles to meaningful participation in the political process, including the redistricting process.
As redistricting begins nationwide, the ACLU of South Carolina will continue to monitor our state’s redistricting process to ensure that our politicians heed the fundamental principles of democracy, representation, and equality.
Frank Knaack is Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina.