Leah Wrazin - Student Research and Creativity Forum - Hofstra University by Hofstra University

Health of Democracy in South Carolina By Leah Wrazin Political Science Department, Hofstra University INTRODUCTION

GERRYMANDERING

VOTING LAWS

VOTER FRAUD CLAIMS

South Carolina, like many other southern states, has a persistent history of racially motivated gerrymandering, restrictive voting laws, and recent claims of voter fraud following the 2020 Presidential Election. Prior to the November 2022 elections, I analyzed the state of certain institutions and mechanisms that are meant to ensure the functionality of democracy within the state of South Carolina. Mixed results were found regarding the overall state of democracy in the state based on the health of the three main mechanisms that were investigated.

South Carolina’s new congressional map was signed into law by Governor Henry McMaster in January 2022, with its first test occurring during the November 2022 elections. Nearly immediately after the passage of the new congressional map, the state’s local NAACP chapter filed a lawsuit accusing the lawmakers who drew the maps of racial and partisan gerrymandering. In the lawsuit, the NAACP alleges that the lines in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th districts were drawn to the disadvantage of Black voters – violations of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The Gerrymandering Project at Princeton University gave the new congressional map an F grade for a significant Republican advantage, being racially-motivated, lacking competitiveness, and an above average amount of county splits. The NAACP lawsuit was heard at the Supreme Court of the United States on October 11th, 2023, after a lower court ruling that the redistricting was unconstitutional.

In May 2022, Governor McMaster signed S.108 into law, which made several monumental changes to South Carolina’s voting laws. These changes included but were not limited to reinstituting strict requirements for residents to qualify for absentee voting; establishing a 12-day early voting period, mandated for all counties within the state; harsh criminal penalties for election workers or voters who commit fraud; and the approval of optical scan voting systems. Additionally, Governor McMaster also signed S.236, which took measures to reduce the amount of polling places in the state. S.236 specifies that the state must only provide one polling place per 3,000 residents, where the policy prior called for one polling place per 500 residents.

As previously mentioned, South Carolina heavily penalizes those who attempt to commit voter fraud in the state. The state lists that most instances of voter fraud are felonies, with fines of up to $5,000 or 5 years in prison for things such as fraudulent registration or impersonation of a voter. Voter threatening and intimidation holds one of the harshest penalties, with a discretionary fine and up to 10 years in prison. Additionally, there have been no verified instances of voter fraud prior to, during, or after the 2020 general election. Representatives Nancy Mace, Joe Wilson, Jeff Duncan, William Timmons, Ralph Norman, and Tom Rice and Senators Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham repeatedly used their platforms to push the election fraud narrative after the 2020 election through public comments, press conferences, and social media posts.

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

The clearest violation of democracy is the blatant gerrymandering that occurred in creating new congressional maps, which had a significant effect on elections in November 2022. The new boundaries drawn practically ensured the re-election of Representative Nancy Mace for the 1st District. As for the other mechanisms we examined, there has still been no proven instances of voter fraud from the 2020 or 2022 elections. At the same time, the changes to voting laws directly before the 2022 elections caused a widespread feeling of voter disenfranchisement, especially where absentee voting is concerned. South Carolina has earned a score of 0.443 on the “Democracy Index.” (Democracy Index states that the “overall health” rating is measured on a scale of -1.001 to 0.759 and that higher numbers are associated with higher voter participation). On the overall index, South Carolina falls both in the less voting access and the worse health quadrants.

“2021-2022 Bill 108: Election Laws.” n.d. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/108.htm. “2021-2022 Bill 236: Pooling Precincts.” n.d. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/236.htm. “2022 FALL Election Integrity in South Carolina.” 2022. SCVotes. 2022. https://scvotes.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022-FALL-Election-Integrityin-SC.pdf. “Alexander v. S.C. State Conf. of the NAACP.” n.d. The American Redistricting Project. https://thearp.org/litigation/sc-state-conf-naacp-v-mcmaster/. Bohatch, Emily. 2021. “Here’s Everything SC’s GOP Congressmen Said to Perpetuate False Election Fraud Narrative.” The State, January 19, 2021. https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article248342730.html. Cnn. 2022. “South Carolina Redistricting 2022: Congressional Maps by District.” CNN, November 8, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/politics/us-redistricting/south-carolinaredistricting-map/. “Health & Democracy Index.” n.d. https://democracyindex.hdhp.us/state/southcarolina/. Howe, Amy. 2023. “Justices Question Finding That S.C. District Was Unconstitutional Racial Gerrymander.” SCOTUSblog. October 14, 2023. https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/10/justices-question-finding-that-s-c-districtwas-unconstitutional-racial-gerrymander/. “Redistricting Report Card.” n.d. Gerrymandering Project. https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/redistricting-reportcard?planId=rec7S8LKomHYMZcbd. “Senate 2021 Redistricting | Plan Proposals.” n.d. https://redistricting.scsenate.gov/planproposal.html. Walker, DeArbea. 2022. “South Carolina Restricts Absentee Voting, Faces Suit over Gerrymandering.” Center for Public Integrity. October 5, 2022. https://publicintegrity.org/politics/elections/who-counts/south-carolina-restrictsabsentee-voting-faces-suit-over-gerrymandering/.

Old congressional map, pre-2022

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Dr. Rosanna Perotti of the Political Science Department for her guidance and mentorship throughout this research. This paper was originally written for her course, PSC114: Political Parties and the Voter.

New congressional map, enacted January 2022