Redistricting: Powdersville area to shrink, majority minority district maintained
Since this story was published, the Anderson County Council has passed three readings to vote on the final district lines. Minor changes have taken place, different from the map in this story. These changes affect District One, Two and Five. Those changes took place to bring District Two to a 50.03% majority minority as opposed to 49.59%. That will restore around 700 people to their current council district.
The Anderson County Council seat boundaries are being redrawn as population shifts toward Powdersville and some lines near Anderson city get tweaked to keep a majority minority seat.
Once a decade, the lines change.
The District Six area will shrink by the White Plains area and the Three & Twenty area, since there are more people.Other changes were to keep a majority minority district in the city of Anderson.
Tweaking district lines is never a perfect process, said attorney Joey Oppermann, who has worked on redistricting issues and has been involved in state and local Democratic Party efforts.
He said the plans for Anderson do not dilute the areas.
"They did a pretty good job trying to respect communities and maintain boundaries," he said. "It's never a perfect process but the changes appear to be clean lines overall."
Redistricting in Greenville:County Councilman is determined to keep the minority a majority in his district
This year is Steve Newton's fourth time drawing up the new district borders in Anderson, a process heavily driven by math, he said.
"It's difficult. It's time consuming," said Newton, the county's governmental affairs director, he said. "I try to be as sensitive to the community as I can."
As Anderson grows, some districts are filling up quicker than others, and that's what is causing some shifting in boundaries.
County council lines do NOT change:
School district lines
Taxes
County council lines could change:
Which council members residents vote for in elections
Which council members represent which areas
District Six was the only district over its population capacity so only that district would be losing significant area, Newton said. The district currently has 33,125 people but the proposed lines would bring their population down by 7.87%.
Jimmy Davis, District Six's council member, has seen extraordinary growth numbers in the northern part of the county. He anticipates the new district lines will help clean up some of the overlap in voting precincts and council members.
Besides Powdersville, District Six includes the Three & Twenty area, all of the Anderson County side of Piedmont, Wren, Mt. Airy and Hunt Meadows. Davis has seen growth across the district especially in Piedmont and Hunt Meadows, so he knew changes would be coming to the densely populated district, he said.
"We're proud of our heritage and we want to continue to grow," Davis said.
Tommy Dunn, the council's chairman, said he has seen so much growth in Anderson in the last decade. He said while he hates losing some of the people he's had in District Five, it is a necessary change.
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Dunn currently represents the Lakeside and Varennes precincts but under the new lines, they would move over to council member Glenn Davis in District Two.
When Davis heard redistricting is coming, one thought came to mind first. "I thought the African American vote would be diluted," he said.
But he was pleased the proposal plans to to keep District Two at almost 50% minority, he said.
He was surprised that his district reached farther down to Lakeside but he's happy to add that precinct along with Varennes, a precinct that already felt like part of his district, he said.
The goal of the majority minority district is to give the Black community a voice, Davis said.
South Carolina is still under Section Two of the Voting Rights Act which prohibits vote dilution, Oppermann said. This section aims to protect the majority minority district so they can elect a candidate of their choice.
For Davis, his priority is to get people to the polls and voting in local elections.
"Local elections are pushed to the side but they are more important than our national elections," he said. "These are the things that affect us the most."
District One will be losing and gaining, but for John Wright's first time going through redistricting he felt the process was simple.
"The heart of my district didn't change a whole lot," Wright said. He has been on the council for two years and said it is about maintaining balance.
Though the lines stretch farther up State 81, he said the changes make sense as he's seen the county grow, he said.
Sarah Sheridan is the community reporter in Anderson. She'd appreciate your help telling important stories; reach her at ssheridan@gannett.com or on twitter @saralinasher.
This article originally appeared on Anderson Independent Mail: As Powdersville grows, surrounding district lines change
