On the evening of April 6, the Greenville, South Carolina, city council tentatively voted to switch to partisan elections for city office. See this story. Assuming the change is finalized, the Greenville County Republican Party will be free to again sue the state over the law that forces county parties to pay for the administration of partisan primaries in cities within that county. The party does not object to paying for the primary but it objects to being told that the party must let non-members vote in its city primaries.
Just a few weeks ago, the Fourth Circuit dismissed the earlier Republican lawsuit on the grounds that the case is moot, since Greenville had switched to non-partisan elections last year. The Fourth Circuit said it was unlikely the city would switch back to partisan elections.
Sounds like some of the Old Barnwell Gang still are going to be in control in South Carolina.
The problem with the original lawsuit was that it was a bunch of gobbledygook that it could not be understood what they were seeking. If the party was only seeking to close the city primary, or get the city to pay for the primary, they could have said so in a lot less words.
The city council has four members elected by district, with two members elected at large, plus a mayor. Two of the four districts are black, and based on a highly gerrymandered district map are held by Democrats.
Greenville changed its method of election after ‘Shelby County’ eliminated direct interference by the federal government. Otherwise, Eric Holder would have denied preclearance just like he did in Kinston, NC, saying that black voters would lose their opportunity to elect a candidate of choice, unless they knew who to choose.
Meanwhile, the other two districts were more Republican, such that the council member would be elected in the Republican primary. In South Carolina, general elections can be cancelled if there is only one candidate. If the district tilted Republican, it would be less likely to have a Democratic candidate. So if a voter wanted to actually participate in who runs his city, he would have to vote in the Republican primary.
One of the plaintiffs in the previous litigation was Billy Mitchell, who had unsuccessfully run for the Republican nomination for mayor. He apparently thought that permitting non-Republicans to vote cost him his chance to win. Billy Mitchell recently filed a lawsuit against Greenville, because the ordinance had left in some text that did not make it clear whether election would be by plurality or have a runoff. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled against Mitchell, deciding that it was clear enough that the election would be by plurality.
If the city council does not repeal the ordinance providing for a non-partisan election, the referendum petition would force a special election for the referendum. If that were successful, then a partisan election would be held on a special schedule.
As it is, Greenville has missed the usual deadline for primary filing, and so may have belated filing, and a delayed primary.
The South Carolina legislature should let cities that use partisan nominations determine how parties qualify to make nominations, and how they make nominations. Greenville might decide that nominations be made by convention. If that were the case, Greenville might be able to essentially do away with popular election of their city council.
Perhaps there is a very slight chance that the MORON courts can learn something —
ALL election stuff can be re-cycled by the robot hacks in the various regimes.
i.e. NO such thing as MOOT stuff in election laws — esp. any stuff that is easily changeable.