STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 21.43 | OCT. 28, 2022
BIG STORY: New conservation fund to protect undeveloped barrier island
NEWS BRIEFS: Young voters want progress on social ills
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Scary time of the year
COMMENTARY, Brack: Save yourself some time: Vote early
SPOTLIGHT: Charter Communications
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Dark water
New conservation fund to protect undeveloped barrier island
Staff reports | Efforts to protect the last undeveloped barrier island in Horry County at the eastern tip of South Carolina took a huge leap forward with two $500,000 donations to a new fund to protect land.
Google contributed $500,000 to the new Land and Water Action Fund by Sustain SC, a business-backed conservation initiative to leverage private sector dollars with county, state and federal dollars to accelerate protection of critical state resources. Google’s donation, which was announced Thursday, prompted a matching grant of $500,000 from the Waccamaw Community Foundation, according to a news release.
“This is an important inflection point in conservation funding in South Carolina,” said S.C. Sen. Chip Campsen, a Charleston Republican considered by many to be the father of the state-funded S.C. Conservation Bank, which has protected almost 250,000 acres of land over the last two decades.
“Sustain SC’s private sector dollars will become an important source of recurring matching funds to further the South Carolina Conservation Bank’s mission of protecting South Carolina’s beautiful places,” he said today.
Funding from the Google grant will go toward permanent protection of a portion of Waites Island, a barrier of more than 1,000 acres near the North Carolina border. It’s one of the last undeveloped and unprotected barrier islands in the Southeast, the release said.
The Open Space Institute, a leading conservation organization, is the first recipient of money from Sustain SC’s new fund. Earlier this year, it purchased 260 acres of the island just northeast of North Myrtle Beach. Much of the rest of the island is owned by a foundation, but a portion remains in private hands, according to a published report.
S.C. Department of Natural Resources Director Robert H. Boyles Jr. outlined the importance of protecting the island: “191 bird species have been documented on Waites Island, which is nearly half of all the bird species that occur in our state,” he said. “Conservation of Waites Island will provide an oasis in a sea of development for migratory birds, sea turtles and shorebirds, as well as the potential for restoration of the federally threatened seabeach amaranth.”
Gov. Henry McMaster said he was pleased with the conservation announcement: “We have an incredible responsibility to preserve South Carolina’s natural beauty and to foster sustainable growth as people from around the world are discovering all that our state has to offer and moving here.”
State gets big grant for electric school buses
In other conservation news, South Carolina has received a $58 million grant to replace old diesel buses with new electric school buses in 16 school districts. Funded through federal infrastructure dollars, the state will replace 148 diesel-fueled buses with electric ones and install infrastructure to charge them.
“The transportation sector is the largest source of pollution in the US and our kids deserve a clean, healthy ride to school,” said Conservation Voters of South Carolina (CVSC) Executive Director John Tynan. “Transitioning away from a fossil-fueled school bus fleet is an important step in improving the health of our children, climate, and economy, and CVSC is thrilled South Carolina is helping lead the way to a clean energy future.”
The initiative got bipartisan support, according to a CVSC news release.
“As an educator, I appreciate how these new electric school buses will contribute to cleaner air for our students, bus drivers, and faculty and staff who work near bus loading areas,” said Sen. Mike Fanning, D-Fairfield.
S.C. Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Beaufort, added, “This funding is a win for South Carolinians of all ages. It will allow Jasper School District to phase out four of their oldest, most polluting diesel buses and replace them with brand new, zero-emission electric school buses that will result in cleaner air, healthier kids, and provide clean energy jobs to people right here in South Carolina.”
Among the school districts that will get the new buses through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program are Dorchester District Four and Georgetown County School District.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Young voters want progress on social ills
Staff reports | Young voters interviewed this week in Charleston County said they wanted political candidates to solve social problems, according to a series of recent man-on-the-street interviews ahead of the Nov. 8 elections.
Voters interviewed under the age of 30 said they would support candidates who seemed most likely to defend access to abortion, social welfare programs and minority rights, and that voting based on party affiliation alone was an outdated mindset.
The majority of people who spoke to City Paper wanted to share opinions on issues. But when asked about specific candidates, “I have to do some research” was the overwhelming response. Men, in particular, were not as interested in sharing their views.
For example, 24-year old Jessica Wenclawiak of Charleston is a graduate student studying marine biology at the College of Charleston. She said she wished the bipartisan dichotomy in the country was not such an ingrained feature of the American political system.
“I think the control of the Senate and the House is really important, so I want to vote to influence that,” Wenclawiak told Charleston City Paper. “The environment [and] climate change are really important to me — making sure that there’s proper infrastructure to deal with climate change and flooding that’s going to happen in the future is really important for me.”
In other recent news:
Cunningham, McMaster debate on abortion, age. In Wednesday’s night only gubernatorial debate between Gov. Henry McMaster and Democratic opponent Joe Cunningham, the two argued over same-sex marriage, abortion, gun laws, marijuana and more. McMaster stood firm on his position against same-sex marriage. Cunningham replied: “I don’t care who you are or who you love. I don’t think it’s government’s role to be getting in the middle of that.”
Lots of GOP election deniers are in South. Here’s what a Washington Post analysis said about Republican candidates for key statewide jobs and Congress in South Carolina: “Most Republican candidates in the South have denied the 2020 election results.”= In South Carolina, the story mentions six white incumbents.
Early voting opened with a bang. South Carolina’s first day of early voting began Monday as a record 40,000 voters cast ballots — twice of what occurred on the first day of early voting in June. The day started with no problems at the polls, but as more people flocked to a state website to check voting locations and sample ballots, the site crashed.
S.C. House chairman back from rehab, campaigns for re-election. House Judiciary Chairman Chris Murphy has returned from six weeks in rehab and said he feels “100% fine.” Amid his return, he’s campaigning for re-election, stating that if re-elected, he will take an additional role in the Statehouse to help those fighting addiction.
South Carolina is the deadliest state to drive in. Recent studies from WalletHub revealed that South Carolina has the most Fatalities per 100 Million Vehicle Miles of Travel out of all 50 states.
Get your flu shot — virus is surging, officials say. Hospitals across the state are seeing an influx of flu patients. Meanwhile, other virus outbreaks like respiratory issues among young children and the omicron Covid-19 variant still rage on. Health officials are urging people to get flu shots to ensure they don’t get the illness. Some worry of a further surge during Halloween weekend among children.
Covid Update: New cases in S.C. hover around 3,000 per week. For the second week in a row, newly reported Covid cases have been about 3,000 over the last week. Seven people died, DHEC reported.
UofSC back to USC. The University of South Carolina is officially reverting back to its old acronym of “USC,” the school announced Wednesday. The update will take full effect starting in January.
HALLOWEEN: The monsters that may lurk around Charleston. In this news feature story, you’ll learn how Charleston is a modern, bustling city, but beyond the cafes and markets, strange things are lurking in the city’s darker corners — monsters!
Scary time of the year
Cartoonist Robert Ariail often interprets things a little differently, but always has an interesting take on what’s going on in South Carolina. Love the cartoon? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Save yourself some time: Vote early
By Andy Brack | If you haven’t yet voted early in person, you’re missing something that’s easy and convenient. And it has the added benefit of saving time.
Early voting is easy and quick. This week after checking in with election officials (no line), it took about four minutes to use the voting machine, pick candidates and cast the ballot. Four minutes!
The experience was awesome, restorative that things can work like they should.
What’s amazing about early voting is the impact it will have on regular voting on November 8. State election officials expect up to 700,000 registered voters – about 40 percent of those who typically vote – may vote early in person or by mail. In turn, that will reduce the load, burden, confusion and long lines often associated with election day at the state’s 2,000+ precincts.
“Over the first three days, we’re averaging about 43,000 [voters] per day,” said Chris Whitmire, deputy executive director of the State Election Commission. “We expect that to increase prior to election day.
“If we end up getting an average of 50,000 per day, that would be 650,000 early voters. It looks like about 50,000 will vote absentee by mail, which would give us an estimated total of 700,000 before election day.”
That would make a huge impact, he said.
“Early voting not only helps voters by giving them more options, but also helps election administrators by spreading the work of processing the voters across 13 voting days (12 early and election day) instead of just one day.”
The state authorized broad early voting in 2020 as an emergency protocol due to the pandemic. It proved to be a game-changer, said Isaac Cramer, executive director of the Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration.
“Election day lines were significantly shorter across the county,” he said. “Voters were able to walk in and out of their polling location without a wait.”
In 2020, some 102,000 people voted early out of almost 221,000 cast that year in Charleston County. Election officials predict similar results this year.
“If that number is true for us where we see over half of the votes have already been cast, voters should have a very quick experience when they go vote on election day.”
But had it not been for the state’s almost forced experiment with early voting, it might have taken a lot longer to put into place, said state Sen. Chip Campsen, the Charleston Republican who pushed early voting measures.
As the 2020 legislative session was winding up that June, legislators realized they needed a way to allow for distanced voting that didn’t clog lines on voting day. Early voting was a solution and passed as a temporary measure as a response to South Carolina’s pandemic state of emergency. And it was a hit with voters and election administrators.
Campsen said many who had concerns about the safety of early voting learned from the experiment.
“That experience, i think, convinced many of the naysayers about early voting that their constituents really liked it and it was the safest way when it comes to any kind of voter fraud – that the he safest way to cast a ballot was in person at a place controlled by election voting officials,” Campsen said.
This year when a new proposal came to make early voting a permanent alternative – so you didn’t have to give an authorized excuse to be able to cast a ballot before election day – it passed with broad bipartisan support.
“It was unprecedented,” Campsen said. “We had the chairman of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party at the bill-signing ceremony. We passed one of the most significant election laws without a dissenting vote in the General Assembly this year. That’s something we ought to be proud of.”
Yes, it is.
- How to vote in 2022: Each county has one or more early voting centers open through Nov. 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Centers are closed on Sunday. In-person voting also occurs at precincts across the state on Nov. 8 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Charter Communications
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. Today, we’re happy to shine the spotlight on Charter Communications, the nation’s fastest-growing TV, internet and voice company. Committed to integrating the highest quality service with superior entertainment and communications products, Charter is at the intersection of technology and entertainment, facilitating essential communications that connect 24 million residential and business customers in 41 states, including South Carolina. In addition to being committed to giving back to the communities we serve, the bedrock of our business strategy is to serve our customers and exceed their expectations.
“We, at our core, are a service organization,” President and CEO Tom Rutledge says. “And every product we sell has a huge service component.”
- To learn more, visit Charter’s South Carolina services online.
Send us your thoughts
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Dark water
Here’s a dock on some dark water somewhere in South Carolina. Where is it? Send your guess – and your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Last week’s image of “Intersection,” showed a railroad crossing and intersection in North, S.C. Only five readers correctly identified the image – and four of them were from Columbia! (North is pretty near Columbia.) Congrats to John Hart, Jean Prothro, Elizabeth Jones and Lane Gordon, all of Columbia, and the indefatigable George Graf of Palmyra, Va., for correctly identifying the intersection.
>> Send us a mystery picture. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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