Gerrymandered Districts Dangerous To State’s Future

The single biggest hurdle for South Carolina moving away from the bottom tier of American states is in the way we elect people to the legislature.
Until we create some real competition that gives good people a fair shot at being elected to public office in Columbia, we’ll remain in the cellar on any number of indicators — poverty, education, prisoners, health, domestic violence and on and on.
What’s going on now with our election process tramples on the notion of equal representation that the founding fathers envisioned.
In the recent general election of 124 members for the S.C. House of Representatives, some 116 seats — 94 percent! — were safe for GOP or Democratic candidates, based on a Statehouse Report analysis. Of the 116 seats, 53 Republican and 30 Democratic incumbents had no challengers. Six other seats had newcomers with no challengers. In the remaining seats, the victors won by a margin of 60 percent or more in all but eight seats.
So with 94 percent of the seats of the S.C. House fairly certain to go to one party or another without much trouble, people outside a seat’s non-favored political party are virtually voiceless in the election process. Furthermore, there’s little incentive for the “fat and happy” preferred candidates to campaign hard, delve seriously into issues and really debate anybody who futilely runs. And once these gerrymandered winners are sworn-in as members, why really do anything big when that might get you in trouble with the voters and cause a challenge from your own party?
Why, indeed? South Carolina can’t afford a milquetoast legislature like those of recent years. Instead of having state lawmakers who have to be dragged kicking and screaming to make progress, why not start electing folks who want to have real debates on issues and who really want to get something done to craft policies that get us out of the dungeon of states? Wouldn’t it be great if we could address poverty through something like an earned income tax credit — or at least have a healthy debate about it instead of kicking the can down the road? Imagine a legislature that engages to develop a real solution for our $40+ billion in road needs or our outdated, uneven tax code that favors the wealthy. Think about how the legislature could really make education a priority, instead of continuing to make cuts.
That’s why the only real solution seems to be one that changes how we vote — not by fiddling with voter ID rules, but by changing the way districts are drawn.
Every 10 years we have that chance following the U.S. Census when the lines for legislative seats are redrawn. It’s called reapportionment, sometimes known as redistricting. The problem? The very people who are redrawing the lines — the incumbents — are doing everything they can to protect their own behinds to keep their districts safe.
Earlier this year, two House Democrats, state Reps. Laurie Funderburk of Camden and Walt McLeod of Little River, proposed an independent reapportionment commission appointed by the legislature and governor. Its job would be to draw balanced, fair districts and submit a plan to the General Assembly to vote up or down. Once a plan is approved, the commission would be disbanded with a new one appointed 10 years later.
The notion of an independent redistricting commission, which at least nine states currently use, is sound. As a nation, we use such a structure, for example, to take the politics out of closing military bases.
California, which started an independent redistricting commission after the 2010 Census, has found the new process boosts competition and causes fewer incumbents to hold on because there are fewer “safe” seats. While South Carolina may have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to change its process, it is time for state lawmakers to give it a serious look.
Philosophically, Southerners believe in competition. In football, baseball or basketball, Southerners realize that having good teams to play against causes all teams and players to get better at their games.
Shouldn’t it be the same with elections, the starting point of our democracy?.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. He can be reached at: brack@statehousereport.com.