Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer and Wire Reports
A legal challenge by the NAACP that the redistricting of state house seats in Anderson County "ignores its own redistricting priorities" is unlikely to delay use of the approved maps in the 2022 elections according to a South Carolina election official.
The lawsuit maintains the redraw lines used race as a predominant factor in drawing lines for S.C. House Districts 7, 8, 9, and 11 in Anderson County. The lawsuit suggests the lines could have been drawn with a significant cluster of precints combined to form one or more districts in which black voters would be more influential.
"Indeed, shattering this community of interest violates the House's own redistricting criteria," according to the lawsuit. "In addition to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is probative of the intentional dilution of Black voting strength in Anderson."
Full text of suit, filed earlier this month, is here.
Possible federal trials over whether South Carolina's new election districts discriminate against Black voters have been delayed several months, making it likely the new maps will be used for U.S. House and state House elections in 2022.
The NAACP, which sued the state over the maps, stated that a crushing amount of evidence that needed to be produced and reviewed along with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Alabama case showing the justices were reluctant to redraw maps close to elections led the civil rights group to ask for the delays, according to court records reviewed by The State newspaper.
State election officials are now planning to use the districts approved by the General Assembly when filing for candidates starts on March 16. Party primaries are in June with the general election in November.
“Prior to (last week), we recognized a possibility — and arguably a likelihood — that things could be delayed. We think that’s not likely now," State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.
There is a small possibility the lines could change. Lawyers for the state are discussing a possible settlement with the NACCP and others.
But the federal trial over the new districts set for the beginning of March has been postponed. Both sides are asking to old a trial in mid-May for the state House seats and September for the U.S. House maps if they can't settle their dispute.