CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Two Charleston County residents have sued the General Assembly and five local Republicans who led the effort to combine the county's two voting offices last year.

The suit filed Tuesday in Circuit Court asks that the current Board of Elections and Voter Registration to return the powers of registering voters and running elections to separate boards.

Mary "Fran" Bendure, former director of the voter registration office, who lost her job when the offices were combined, and Curtis Inabinett Jr., who was denied a spot on the new board, claim the lawmakers violated the state Constitution that prohibits county-specific special legislation.

"We think the law is clear that this wasn't done the right way," said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Clayton McCullough. "It ought to be fixed.

The suit reopens a controversy that sparked heated rhetoric last year between Republicans and Democrats, and a veto by Gov. Mark Sanford.

Republicans pushed the bill saying that combining the two offices was the only way to bring efficiency to the election process after multiple complaints surfaced at the polls during the 2002 election.

After the bill passed, it was vetoed by Sanford on the same grounds listed in the lawsuit: that it was specific legislation that only covered Charleston County. The stance is similar to the legal position taken by other governors who have vetoed or chosen not to sign legislation they considered special legislation since Home Rule was enacted in 1976. Lawmakers then overrode the Republican governor's veto and the bill became law.

"The governor's position today is exactly what it was when he vetoed this legislation," said Sanford's spokesman Will Folks. "He had concerns that the law would take power away from local governments, and he believes this lawsuit shows that those concerns were well-founded," Folks said.

The issue became more controversial when the Republican majority on the Charleston County legislative delegation filled eight of the nine seats on the combined elections and registration board with fellow Republicans. The makeup prompted Democrats to question whether they would get fair treatment at the polls.

Republicans named in the lawsuit are Sens. Arthur Ravenel Jr., R-Mount Pleasant, and Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau; and Reps. Tom Dantzler, R-Goose Creek, Wallace Scarborough, R-Charleston, and John Graham Altman III, R-Charleston.

Altman questioned the motivation behind the lawsuit. "If Fran (Bendure) had gotten the job, would she have filed the suit?" he said.

"They don't have the people's best interest at heart," Altman said, adding that filing for the June primaries opens in two weeks and the new board has to be focused on those races. "These two people are acting like children, trying to destroy things."

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.charleston.net