South Carolina enacted new state legislative district maps on Dec. 10, 2021, when Gov. Henry McMaster (R ) signed a proposal approved by the South Carolina House and Senate into law.
The South Carolina Senate approved House and Senate map proposals in a 43-1 vote on Dec. 7, and the House approved the new districts in a 75-27 vote on Dec. 9. Gov. McMaster signed the bill into law the next day. This map will take effect for South Carolina’s 2022 state legislative elections.
Rep. Jay Jordan (R) said the House Redistricting Committee considered public testimony and map submissions when drafting new districts: “The committee, before the — to go through the entire process worked very hard, traveling across the entire state, taking testimony, looking at all the different proposed maps.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Luke Rankin (R) said, “Democrats: Be happy. Republicans: Don’t be greedy. This is a good plan.”
Rep. Wendy Brawley (D) said, “The map we have before us from the House Judiciary Committee is highly gerrymandered. That has been determined.” Lynn Teague, vice president for the South Carolina League of Women Voters, said, “[The House map’s] lack of competition is a very serious threat to representative democracy. General election votes become meaningless because the outcome is certain, or nearly so.”
Nationwide, legislative redistricting has been completed for 817 of 1,972 state Senate seats (41.4%) and 2,156 of 5,411 state House seats (39.8%). During the 2010 redistricting cycle, South Carolina approved legislative maps on Jun. 28, 2011.
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