Here's how we stopped the map rigging plan

On Tuesday, May 26, South Carolina bucked a national trend. We stopped a plan to redraw Congressional district maps during a primary election.

When I say “South Carolina” did this, I mean all of us — not just those of us on staff at the ACLU of South Carolina. We called and emailed our lawmakers, gave hours of testimony against a rushed gerrymandering plan that would have erased the power of Black voters, and rallied twice on the Statehouse steps.

No victory is permanent, and we expect the same bad actors to attack democracy again in 2027, but for now I want to pause and celebrate a victory that belongs to all of us.

You know who ultimately doomed President Trump’s plan to rig our state’s map for partisan gain? Voters. South Carolinians smashed the record for ballots cast on the first day of primary voting on Tuesday, and state senators adjourned debate after explaining that they couldn’t just throw out all those ballots.

Over the past month, we met South Carolinians from across the state and political spectrum who were doing their part to stop an obvious and anti-democratic power grab. Some were seasoned activists; others were setting foot on the Statehouse grounds for the first time. If you would like to find ways to stay informed and get involved, I’d invite you to look around on our website.

We have a podcast called While I Breathe, a form where you can request speakers, Know Your Rights pages, a map of ICE collaboration agreements, and a volunteer interest form. You can learn more about the civil liberties struggles of our time, and we’ll provide opportunities for you to show up when you are able. None of us can solve our state’s problems alone, but together we can overcome all sorts of injustice.

I’ll leave you with the words of our executive director Jace Woodrum, trying to sum up the weeks of struggle and solidarity that led us to this moment:

“There are powerful people who want you to believe that showing up doesn’t matter. But we the people still hold the power, and representative democracy is still standing.”

Thank you for staying involved, even when the odds seem impossible. We’ll see y’all in the streets.