Ballot breaks laws guiding fair elections, misleads voters
Today, Mary Edna Fraser, Glenda Miller, and the Coastal Conversation League, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, W. Andrew Gowder, Jr., and W. Jefferson Leath, Jr., sued Charleston County to demand that the 2024 sales tax referendum ballot meet the requirements for transparency under South Carolina law. The proposed tax would cost taxpayers $5.4 billion over a 25-year period. Last Tuesday, the County Council approved the ordinance setting forth the terms of the transportation sales tax ballot language for the November election.
This lawsuit seeks a declaration from a court identifying the ways in which the ordinance and referendum language violate South Carolina law.
The complaint argues that the ordinance and referendum language fail to disclose the estimated costs of each project, severely impacting voters’ ability to make an informed vote. In addition, as currently written, the sales tax question denies voters the choice to support funding for Greenbelt and mass transit without also voting to fund the controversial Mark Clark Extension. If approved, the sales tax would primarily be used for the $2.3 billion Extension.
“Charleston County voters deserve to make informed choices when they head to the polls. They should not be forced into an all-or-nothing decision,” said Faith Rivers James, Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation League. “Voters deserve the right to vote for preferred needed improvements – like Greenbelt and CARTA funds – without being forced to support the destructive and unnecessary Mark Clark Extension as the priority project.”
“We’re talking about 5.4 billion taxpayer dollars over 25 years. The referendum must be clear,” said Chris DeScherer, Director of SELC’s South Carolina Office. “Keeping our government accountable to the law is especially important after the County’s lack of transparency and failure to complete projects from the last tax referendum.”