Cayce City Council, at their latest meeting on Feb. 4, discussed proposed changes to district and ward lines used for local elections before deciding to postpone their redistricting decision.

Council originally adopted a resolution that outlined the steps that needed to be taken and the standards to be used in March of 2023, but decided to wait to take the next steps until after the November 2024 elections to allow residents plenty of time to be informed about district changes, according to the memorandum released by City Council.

The results of the 2020 Census warrant a redrawing of lines to ensure that each district has approximately equal populations. This is mandated by the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The city worked with the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office to determine the changes that needed to happen. Based on Census data from the city, the office determined that District 2 lines had to change to increase their population while District 4 lines had to change to decrease their population so that all districts have a population of around 3,445.

In January of this year, letters were mailed to approximately 900 Cayce citizens who would be affected by this change to inform them of their potential new districts.

Kathryn Kelly, communications and operations manager for the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, spoke during the meeting to explain the office’s process for redistricting and why it matters.

“Redistricting is important for a number of reasons,” Kelly said. “One is making sure your vote counts the same as everyone else. Emergency services is another.”

Kelly also said that her office considers many things when drawing new district lines, including communities of interest, equal minority representation and efforts to avoid dividing residential areas as much as possible.

“I’ve lived in Cayce for 65 years,” resident Gerald Cromer said during the meeting. “I hate to see my neighborhood broken up from one representative to another. It affects what happens in the neighborhood.”

Other residents, like Kelly West, asked the council to consider new developments that will be built in the next 10 years when they are redrawing the district lines.

“We know that there is a lot of really cool stuff coming which will bring a lot more people into a lot of these neighborhoods,” West said. “It’s just something to think about as we think about the [population] numbers.”

Mayor Elise Partin then asked about options to defer after hearing concerns from council members and constituents.

“Is it better to not pass this on first reading… or pass this on first reading knowing that there could be changes?” she asked.

Council voted unanimously to defer the first reading of the new district lines to Feb. 19, 2025, to allow Kelly and her office time to see if it was feasible to keep neighborhoods, such as Broad Acres, together as much as possible. The new maps must pass two council readings before they can be sent to the South Carolina Election Commission.

The next Cayce City Council meeting will be on Feb. 19 starting at 6 p.m. at Cayce City Hall.