South Carolina lawmakers elected, or in some cases re-elected, 37 judges Wednesday. But while lawmakers voted by voice, several members of the Legislative Black Caucus remained silent, as a protest against the system.

Rep. Leon Howard, D-Columbia, was one of those who refused to vote. "We are electing 37 Caucasian judges today with no African-Americans being contenders, or even being considered," he said.

He says the system of choosing judges is flawed and needs to be changed. His main concern is with the fact that a commission chooses a maximum of three candidates for any judgeship. He thinks any qualified candidate should have his or her name put before lawmakers as an option.

"Several black lawyers that I spoke to are not encouraged to come forward because of the process," Rep. Howard told News Channel 7. "The process is so flawed, they don't want to go through the process knowing that their chance of being treated fair is minimum."

Of the 140 judgeships that state lawmakers fill, only 8 are held by African-Americans. That's about 6 percent, while the state's African-American population is about 30 percent.

But what about the argument that the law is the law, and a judge's skin color shouldn't matter? Rep. Brenda Lee, D-Spartanburg, was another black lawmaker who refused to vote Wednesday.

She says, "The law is the law to a certain degree. But when you live in a community, you're an elected official, you need to make sure the entire community is represented, especially on the judicial bench."

She points out that Spartanburg County has no black judges. Judge Don Beatty was the only African-American Circuit Judge in the county, but he was elevated to the state Court of Appeals last May. He's now the only African-American on that court, while there are none on the state Supreme Court. 

So is the process flawed? Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, who chairs the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, says it's not. There are two African-Americans on the commission, he says.

He says even though the black population in the state is 30 percent, lawmakers don't have that percentage of black lawyers to choose from.

"The number of lawyers is less than 10 percent black. Matter of fact, a recent Bar survey, which was a volunteer survey, showed that it was less than 6 percent black," Rep. Delleney says. "So, I don't know what the big gripe is. If those are correct figures, then there are more black judges, percentage-wise, than there are black lawyers." 

Rep. Howard says he is, in fact, concerned about the low number of black lawyers, and says that shows the need to examine law schools' admission policies for minorities.

But he says the main goal of members of the caucus is to draw attention to the scarcity of black judges, and to try to change the election process to give more black candidates a chance.