Redistricting and Newberry: The art of the draw

I hadn’t planned on writing this item, but events of the past week and some feedback on comments I made recently have prompted me to crank out a report.

A couple of weeks ago I was in the Target at Harbison searching for a toaster to buy. It was late in the afternoon. I got a call from a friend who’s part of an organization interested in the redistricting now underway as a result of the 2020 Census. “I need you to do me a favor,” he said. “I just emailed you a redistricting map, and I’d like you to upload it to the website I’ve included in the mail. Take a look at the map, and if you agree, upload it. And it needs to be done by 6 p.m.” “OK, I’ll get right on it.”

I couldn’t get it done from my cell phone, so I went out to my car and uploaded it via my iPad. And that was it – I thought. Mission accomplished.

Not so. Out of the blue, on Wednesday, October 20, I got a call and an email notifying me that I was on the agenda to testify at the S.C. Senate Committee on redistricting. The day after, Thursday, October 21. My jaw hit the floor, and I grabbed my cell phone. “Don’t worry,” my friend told me, “we’ll give you talking points about the map. And we’ll be there to help you if you get stuck for an answer.” “We” included a GIS population mapping expert who drew the map I had uploaded.

Now, I taught college level courses for the majority of my professional career, had given a number of presentations, and had worked in radio while I was in college. But this… testifying before a state government committee… New. A completely new experience. The kind that gives your stomach a woogedie feeling. My friend was there, as well as the GIS mapping expert. “If you get hit with questions about the mapping process, don’t hesitate to hand them off to the expert,” my friend told me. The talking points were good. For one thing, in the current districting, there are over 300 split precincts in the state. Split precincts require the county voting commission to prepare and print out multiple ballots (one for each split in a precinct), which means spending more tax money, and lots of confusion among voters over who’s running and even where to vote. The map I was asked to submit has no split precincts at all in the state. And there’s also a strong attempt to keep communities of common interest together. That’s the point I made most strongly in my presentation.

I was fifth out of seven people on the agenda. The first three presentations were endless. The first person had three additional persons with her, and they all wanted to speak. The second was just a little better. Honestly, I was surprised that we were not given a time limit to make our statements.

My turn came at last. I introduced myself, and said, “I’m a retired college professor, and I think I’ve learned something about the limits of the human attention span. So, I’m going to try to keep my comments brief.”

I mentioned the split precincts issue and a few other things, then got into my main point. “The thing that I really like about the map I submitted is the effort to keep communities of common interest together. In this map, rural areas like Newberry and Saluda counties are kept together in the same district, as well as small rural areas of Lexington and Aiken Counties.” I went on to point out that one map I had seen – and one that raised a lot of eyebrows here in Newberry – put a large chunk of Newberry County in the same district with a more urban area of Lexington County. “If that happens, people in Newberry won’t stand a strong chance of electing people to the legislature. And I can guarantee you, rural areas have a lot more in common than with urban areas.” “Consider this,” I continued. “Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that are intended to help communities recover from the economic effects of COVID-19 are split into two packages. The first is for more urban areas, like Columbia, Charleston, and even Sumter, and those funds go directly to those communities. The other funds are for areas with populations below a certain threshold level that are called “non-entitlement units.” Those funds go to the state, which then decides where and how those funds will be used. Newberry is one such non-entitlement unit, are most rural areas of the state. The Legislature will take up the funds question in January. “Bottom line: rural areas have got to have a strong voice in the legislature. They can’t have that strong voice if they can’t elect people who represent their interests.”

There are a couple of other issues in which rural areas will need a strong voice in the legislature. I’m in the process of preparing some articles on one issue now. Stay tuned.