COLUMBIA – During a record-breaking day of early voting, a bipartisan majority of the South Carolina Senate has refused to throw out thousands of already-cast primary votes and impose an unconstitutional election map that would have created chaos and erased the voting power of Black voters.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that our political fate is set in stone. Remember that showing up and fighting for democracy still matters,” said Jace Woodrum, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “South Carolinians from all walks of life showed up to give testimony, to call and write to our lawmakers, to lift our voices in protest, and finally to cast ballots in record-breaking numbers on the first day of primary voting.
“There are powerful people who want you to believe that showing up doesn’t matter. But we the people still hold the power, and representative democracy is still standing. After we made our voices heard, lawmakers from both political parties finally saw that the rush to redistrict hurts voters — and they did the right thing.”
The ACLU of South Carolina thanks the South Carolina allies, advocates, and voters who turned out in droves to oppose a brazen power grab over the past month.
Redistricting By the Numbers
1,502,766 – The number of voting-age South Carolinians who would have been moved to new congressional districts under the new map. This represents more than one-third of voting-age South Carolinians.
1/2 - The portion of Black voting-age South Carolinians who would have been relocated under the new map, compared to 1/3 of white voting-aged adults.
4,157 – The number of absentee ballots that had been cast in 2026 primary elections as of May 26, according to the S.C. Election Commission.
32,500 - The number of ballots that were cast by mid-afternoon in the first day of early primary voting on May 26.
7 minutes, 40 seconds - The amount of time Adam Kincaid of the National Republican Redistricting Trust spent explaining his new map via a Zoom call to a May 12 House subcommittee before hanging up without taking any questions.
8 minutes - The amount of public notice the House Rules Committee gave for a May 18 meeting to change the rules of debate during an ongoing House discussion of the redistricting bill.