Aiken County Council members met with Frank Rainwater, executive director of the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, on Nov. 2 for the first work session before the redistricting process begins.
The session, attended by Council Chairman Gary Bunker, District 2 representative Camille Furgiuele and Sandy Haskell of District 5, was to begin work on drawing new elective district lines following the census, which takes place every 10 years.
The new census report said Aiken County’s population grew by 5.44% since the 2010 census and is now up to 168,808 residents. That means the ideal size for the eight voting districts is 21,101. Four districts — districts one, five, seven and eight — are below that number, so residents in the other four districts must be moved.
MORE: South Carolina Officials Hear from Aiken Residents on Redistricting
Currently, District 2 has the largest population with 22,833, putting it more than 8% over the ideal size. District 5 is currently just under 10% of the target size with 19,049 residents.
“It’s our mission here to make you understand that you’re totally in charge of your own planning. We’re here to help educate you and the public,” Rainwater said. “Our purpose here is to emphasize this should be a data-driven decision.”
He also presented a list of recommendations, including that districts be drawn to minimize the division of voting districts, respect existing communities of interest and to create district as geographically compact as possible.
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The next step is expected at the regular council meeting on Nov. 16 when members will review a resolution laying out council’s goals in keeping with Rainwater’s recommendations.
“This will be a three-reading ordinance. I would like to see title only at our meeting in two weeks,” said Bunker. “That would allow us to get this done by January. I like to start by January because we need to have enough time for members of the public to understand what these changes are before candidate filing in March.”
It was also decided to continue getting assistance from Rainwater and the RFA staff leading up to the meeting.
“We’re hoping to have a draft map that council can start looking at with all eight of the districts having to have some level of change, because we expect that there will be some back and forth between members of council. It’s very important that when they come up with this map that they do have that file we can use,” Bunker explained.
As the resolution and map move forward, Bunker said there will be a public meeting to explain any changes and gather input from citizens.
Meanwhile in Columbia, S.C., the state House Redistricting Ad Hoc Committee will release a first draft plan the week of Nov. 8. It will be available online on the redistricting website here.
The committee will meet on Nov. 10 in Columbia to discuss the first draft plan along with any plans submitted by the public. The meeting will be held in person and virtually via the redistricting website. Anyone wishing to comment virtually must email virtualtestimony@schouse.gov by 5 p.m. on Nov. 9.
Testimony may also be submitted in writing to: House Judiciary Committee (512 Blatt), Attn: Redistricting, P.O. Box 11867, Columbia, SC 29211
If necessary, the committee will hold a second meeting on Nov. 12.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
