Senators Ponder Remap, Second Primary as Costs Rise to $5-6M

Jessica Holdman/S.C. Daily Gazette

COLUMBIA — Senators will begin debate Thursday on a bill redrawing the state’s congressional districts, a day after South Carolina’s election chief told them a second set of primaries will cost between $5 million and $6 million.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15-7 to send to the floor a new congressional map aimed at flipping South Carolina’s lone congressional seat held by a Democrat. Sen. Chip Campsen, of Isle of Palms, was the lone Republican “no.” Judiciary Chairman Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, said he wanted to move the bill to the floor for debate by the full Senate.

The vote Wednesday followed about seven hours of testimony, which included an updated price tag presented by state elections director Conway Belangia.

The estimates were more than double projections Belangia gave earlier this month after House Republicans launched the push for mid-decade redistricting ahead of November midterms.

Belangia said initial estimates were presented off-the-cuff. The numbers went up after the state Elections Commission had time to dig deeper into past election spending, especially related to poll worker pay. The update still doesn’t include additional costs to counties.

‘A monumental task’

Belangia’s warning and the Senate committee’s vote came less than 24 hours after the state House adopted the White House-backed map and voted to delay primaries for the state’s seven U.S. House seats to Aug. 18.

Primaries for other races will continue as scheduled in June.

Belangia went on to call the running of a second round of statewide primaries, as well as run offs that are likely to follow, a “monumental task.”

Zoom in on the differences

For an interactive map of South Carolina’s existing congressional districts, click here. For the proposed map, click here.

“Lots of man hours, lots of work, not only from the state Election Commission, but all the counties involved,” he said.

It would be a tight timeline.

Under federal law, election officials must mail military and overseas ballots at least 45 days before an election. Candidate filing for any special congressional primary in August would run from June 1 through June 5 and those ballots would go out no later than July 4 to stay on schedule.

In addition to the issue of overseas ballots, the state also needs to re-program and test voting machines, a task they can’t take up until after June 23 primary runoffs.

Most of that programming is done electronically, but the map as redrawn means 43 voting precincts will have voters from multiple congressional districts casting ballots. Data for those split precincts have to be entered by hand.

Of those manual entries, 20 are in Richland County.

Richland County Elections Director Travis Alexander told lawmakers he lacks the funding and workers needed for the additional days.

“With the timeline, I don’t where I would have the time,” he said.

Alexander estimates the county’s total cost will be $800,000 for an additional primary and runoff for congressional races. He hopes the state will cover roughly half of that.

The county’s remaining costs include supplemental pay for poll workers — who counties already struggle to hire — plus ballot cards, postage and signage.

Sharon Robinson, an election clerk in Charleston, said she works 14 to 15 hours during elections, time she has to take off from running her own business.

“Conducting additional elections in August would place major strain on election workers and local offices,” she said. “These elections require long hours, staffing, training, and preparation for many of us.”

Other concerns

In addition to elections officials, the Senate committee heard opposition from Will Haynie, the mayor of Mount Pleasant, who said residents used to come to him with worries about data centers. But all he has heard about the past couple weeks have been redistricting woes.

The state’s fourth-largest city would be moved entirely into the 7th District with Myrtle Beach. The concern is a congressional representative whose attention is divided between the state’s two differing economic engines: the Grand Strand beaches and the Port of Charleston. While Horry County’s been fighting for interstate access for decades, Charleston County needs billions for interstate improvements, Haynie noted as an example.

The roughly 70 people who testified Wednesday also included an independent candidate who said the 4,000 signatures he’s collected in an effort to get on the ballot in the state would be invalidated, people with disabilities who struggle with transportation to polling places, and the grandson of longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, who the proposal draws out of the congressional district he’s represented for 34 years.

The effort to redraw South Carolina’s lines to create seven Republican seats followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that threw out Louisiana’s congressional map, striking down a majority-Black congressional district as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

It’s the 6th District, which voters first elected Clyburn to in 1992, that redistricting supporters say it’s necessary to “un-gerrymander.”

Opponents pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court has already upheld South Carolina’s map. In 2024, justices rejected claims of racial gerrymandering with the post-2020 census redistricting. Their ruling on Louisiana’s map even references the South Carolina decision, which found that movement of lines in the 1st and 6th districts were for partisan, not racial, reasons.

“You all here know very well how important Congressman Clyburn is to South Carolina,” said Walter Clyburn Reed of Columbia. “His influence has brought resources and national attention back to the state.”

That includes billions of dollars for roads, bridges, the port, broadband internet and more, the congressman’s grandson added.

Only four people testified in support of the new map. Sen. Matt Leber, R-Johns Island, said they’re part of the “silent majority” who want senators to adopt the map.

They included a Hampton County GOP chairwoman, former U.S. Senate candidate Paul Dans, and a conservative political organizer and influencer from Myrtle Beach.

“Here in South Carolina, we have a supermajority as Republicans,” said Chad Caron of the Conservative Caucus. “Sometimes when you win the game, you get to spike the football.”