COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal urged lawmakers to consider the race and gender of judicial candidates to increase diversity on the bench.

"We urge you to make the principle of diversity an important consideration in any judicial elections that come before you this year and in the future," read the letter sent Tuesday to all House and Senate members.

Blacks make up 29.5 percent of the state's population and 6.1 percent of its trial judges. Women account for 51.4 percent of the population and 17.3 percent of trial judges, according to the letter.

Sanford and Toal asked lawmakers to support a bill that would create three more circuit court judges and three additional family court judges.

They would create an opportunity for more diversity and help the state's "severely overworked" court system.

"Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception in some parts of our state that there are different standards of justice depending on the gender or race of the litigant, or that our government is not committed to the principle of diversity in judicial elections," the letter read.

The governor and chief justice said they don't believe those perceptions, but they said lawmakers should consider them when casting their votes.

Perception is reality and many people appearing in court "have the perception that they're not getting a fair shot," said Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville.

Malloy said he appreciated the governor and chief justice bringing attention to the issue but it's not something that can be fixed simply by creating more seats.

"This is something we need to be conscious about all the time," said Malloy, president of the state Trial Lawyers Association.

House Majority Leader Jim Merrill said he doesn't care if judicial candidates are "black, green or blue, as long as they're qualified."

Two judicial seats are currently open, including the circuit court seat vacated by Reginald Lloyd, who was sworn in last month as the state's U.S. attorney. He became the first black to serve permanently in that position since Reconstruction.