“No one in South Carolina’s employ — in the General Assembly or in state government — participated in drawing that map,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin, who has cast several votes supportive of redistricting this session, said during a hearing on the maps late in the day May 20.
Others openly expressed concerns around the unknown costs associated with a new summer election — projected to be as much as $6 million — and the impact of splitting traditionally unified communities along new lines.
Under the now-defeated effort communities considered distinct from one another, like Myrtle Beach and Charleston or Clemson and Columbia, would have had to share the same members of Congress, potentially pitting them against one another for federal resources and attention in Washington, D.C., on everything from beach renourishment to highway funding.
“We just don’t want to be competing against each other,” said Will Haynie, the Republican mayor of the Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant, which stood to be drawn into the same district as Myrtle Beach.
Others expressed practical concerns a new election could be held on such short notice without significant issues.
Even had new maps been established prior to the start of early voting May 26, Conway Belangia, the state election director, told lawmakers it would be a “monumental task” for the state’s 46 boards of elections to prepare their voting systems for the anticipated special congressional primaries in August.
Another fear was that some candidates running under existing lines could have faced either disqualification or a decision to run against a sitting legislator in their own party.
Then there were flaws with the process itself. Senators began pointing out errors with the map that went uncaught by the House. Due to the timing of the debate, legislators also faced pressure not to make any changes that would force the bill to return to the House for reconciliation, even as some members sought to redraw lines or create mechanisms to actually pay for a new election, which went unfunded in the budget.
