What Happened
AP reported that South Carolina senators rejected President Donald Trump's push to redraw the state's congressional map ahead of the midterms, killing a Republican plan after early in-person voting had already begun for the June 9 primaries.
The proposal had already passed the Republican-led House. It would have reconfigured Rep. Jim Clyburn's district, voided the current congressional primary results and scheduled new U.S. House primaries in August under the revised map.
Some Republican senators said the timing was the problem. State Sen. Richard Cash said South Carolina citizens were already going to the polls and that neither his conscience nor common sense would let him stop an election already underway.
Why This Matters
Redistricting is supposed to happen after the census, not whenever national party math starts sweating. AP placed the South Carolina fight inside a broader Trump-backed Republican effort to redraw maps before November in hopes of protecting a narrow House majority.
The same day, AP reported, Republicans also hit a setback in Alabama, where a three-judge federal panel blocked a Republican-backed congressional map and said it intentionally discriminated based on race.
The Dumb Part With The Election U-Turn
The dumb part is trying to remodel the voting map after voters have already started walking through the front door. That is not election administration. That is sprinting into a restaurant after dinner service begins and demanding the kitchen become a tire shop.
Political parties have always liked maps that like them back. But voiding ongoing primaries so a more convenient map can arrive late with a lanyard is the kind of process theory that sounds less like democracy and more like a group project that got started at 11:58 p.m.
The Bottom Line
The South Carolina Senate said no, at least for now, while Alabama's map fight heads toward another appeal. The real stupid shit is treating voters like beta testers for a partisan map patch released after polls opened.
Sources
AP: South Carolina Senate rejects Trump's call to redraw congressional map for midterm elections
PBS NewsHour/AP: South Carolina Senate rejects Trump's push to redraw congressional maps