Partisan gerrymandering is a real problem in South Carolina, and the League of Women Voters is taking action to educate voters and to encourage advocacy to reduce partisan and incumbent-protective gerrymandering, so that voters are choosing their representatives and not the other way around.

That was the message from Lawson Wetli of the League of Women Voters of Greenville County when he addressed the GCDP breakfast meeting on November 18.

The organization is seeking redistricting reform in which district lines are drawn based on appropriate and enforceable criteria that do not favor partisan interests or incumbents, and in which the drawing is done by an independent, nonpartisan commission. South Carolina voters who want to see where their state representatives stand on this issue can go to the Fair Lines for South Carolina website. Bills currently in the South Carolina legislature that support redistricting by an independent commission and with appropriate criteria are Senate bill S.341 and House bill H. 3339. The League encourages South Carolinians to contact their representatives and encourage support for these bills and for redistricting reform in general.

Redistricting will occur in 2021 based on the 2020 census results, and the group is mobilizing now to make the needed changes so that this next round of redistricting prioritizes the interest of voters and not parties or incumbents. A “redistricting explainer” put together by the League is available online.

League representatives would be happy to come talk to any interested local group about this issue. Contact Lawson Wetli for more information.