The Charleston County Legislative Delegation finally has named a second Democrat to the nine-member Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration. Too bad there was no effort to even better balance the virtually all-Republican board by giving both vacancies to Democrats.
The nine-member board is the merged version of the previous five-member Election Commission and the Board of Voter Registration. While the party in power always has had the edge on the politically sensitive Election Commission, it was never as lopsided as it has been since the two bodies were merged last year.
Indeed, after the commission chose a well-known Republican partisan as director of elections, the county Democratic Party backed a lawsuit that contends the legislation that merged the two bodies is unconstitutional special legislation. It should be noted that the bill was vetoed by the governor on just that basis. The lawsuit suffered a setback recently when a circuit judge ruled that the entire General Assembly couldn't be sued. The attorney for the plaintiffs tells us that the challenge will be resumed once it is decided which new defendants to name.
The two open seats filled by the lawmakers Monday had been vacated by Republican appointees. Charleston County Democratic Party Chairman Mullins McLeod tells us he's convinced a Democrat wouldn't have been chosen for one of the two vacancies had the lawsuit not been filed. He said the suit might even have been dropped had the other vacancy gone to a Democrat rather than another Republican.
Regardless, we hope a court eventually does address the question of whether the boards were legally merged. The question is too important to be left hanging. Better yet, the Legislature could render the question moot by passing a statewide law that clearly allows such mergers.
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