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Voting history · South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

A dated list of changes to how Americans vote: district maps, polling places and drop boxes, voting laws and rules, and courts and election officials. Each entry says who did what and when, shows what became of it, and links to the page it rests on. Attempts that failed are listed as failed. Entries that rest on a news report name the outlet.

This is the district view: events tagged to this congressional district, then events that apply across South Carolina, then national events. An event is tagged to a district only when its source names that congressional district. See all of South Carolina.

Kind of event
Decade

In South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

No events have been tagged to South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District yet. District events are added over time. The state and national events below also apply here.

Across South Carolina

1984

  1. Sep 11, 1984 State Laws and rules Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects under Section 5 to South Carolina's Act R522 on assistance to voters

    In a letter of September 11, 1984, the Justice Department addressed Act No. R522 (1984), which amends section 7-13-770 of the 1976 South Carolina Code to bring the state into compliance with Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which allows a voter who needs assistance because of blindness, disability or inability to read or write to be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice other than the voter's employer or union agent. Under the Act, a voter could receive assistance from anyone chosen except that a manager selected by the chairman of the managers must accompany the voter and helper into the voting booth unless the helper is a family member. The letter states that the Department's view is that the provision "contravenes Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act" and "therefore, on behalf of the Attorney General, I must interpose an objection to Act No. R522 (1984)." A later letter in the same file, answering the state's request for reconsideration, said its analysis had "disclosed nothing which would warrant a change in our previous determination."

    Source last checked Oct 21, 2026

  2. Aug 10, 1984 State Laws and rules Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects under Section 5 to the proposed special-election schedule for South Carolina's new Senate plan

    In a letter of August 10, 1984, the Justice Department addressed Senate Bill No. 1093, R626 (1984), which establishes a new Senate reapportionment plan and a proposed schedule for implementing it in special elections that year, received August 9, 1984. It says "The Attorney General does not interpose any objection to the voting changes to be occasioned by the senate reapportionment plan embodied in Senate Bill No. 1093," but, as to the schedule for implementing the plan, "although I am compelled to enter this objection, we are willing to assist the State in its efforts to devise an alternate schedule which meets the requirements of federal law." It suggested qualifying August 14 through 28, a first primary on October 9 and a second on October 16, with the general election on November 6, and said that about sixty days before the first primary was the minimum time for a racially fair primary election.

    Source last checked Oct 21, 2026

  3. Mar 20, 1984 State Laws and rules Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects under Section 5 to the 1984 State Senate primary schedule in Act R321

    In a letter of March 20, 1984, the Justice Department addressed Act R321, the schedule for the 1984 primary elections for the South Carolina Senate, submitted March 13, 1984. Under the resolution the state would begin implementing a reapportionment plan (Act 257), then the subject of a Section 5 declaratory judgment action, State of South Carolina v. United States (D.D.C. No. 83-3626); candidates would qualify under the proposed plan from March 16 through March 30, 1984, and the primary would move from June 12 to July 24, 1984. The letter states "on behalf of the Attorney General, I must interpose a Section 5 objection to the election schedule established by R321," adding that "we stand ready to review promptly a schedule for the conduct of elections as soon as a plan is precleared."

    Source last checked Oct 21, 2026

1981

  1. Nov 18, 1981 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects under Section 5 to South Carolina's 1981 House reapportionment, Act R249

    In a letter listed in its index as dated November 18, 1981, the Justice Department addressed Act No. R249 (1981), the reapportionment of the South Carolina House of Representatives, received September 19, 1981. The plan had 124 single-member districts, "the overwhelming majority of which are unobjectionable," but the letter found noticeable dilution or fragmentation of the minority vote in districts in Florence, Richland, Lee, Allendale-Bamberg-Barnwell and Jasper-Beaufort counties, and states "I must, on behalf of the Attorney General, interpose an objection to Act No. R249 pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965." A later letter, on the state's request for reconsideration, withdrew the objection only as to the Allendale, Bamberg and Barnwell counties area and declined to withdraw it as to the other parts of the plan.

    Source last checked Oct 21, 2026

Nationwide

1986

  1. Aug 28, 1986 National Laws and rules Enacted

    Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act becomes law

    Public Law 99-410, dated August 28, 1986, may be cited as the "Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act." Its subject is voting in federal elections by members of the uniformed services and by citizens living overseas.

    Related: Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act becomes law

    Source last checked Oct 29, 2026

  2. Jun 30, 1986 National Courts and officials Decided by a court

    Supreme Court decides Thornburg v. Gingles

    On June 30, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court decided its first case under the 1982 version of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The syllabus says minority voters who contend that a multimember form of districting violates Section 2 "must prove that the use of a multimember electoral structure operates to minimize or cancel out their ability to elect their preferred candidates."

    Related: Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982 become law

    Source last checked Oct 23, 2026

1984

  1. Sep 28, 1984 National Polling places and drop boxes Enacted

    Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act becomes law

    Public Law 98-435, dated September 28, 1984, is titled "To improve access for handicapped and elderly individuals to registration facilities and polling places for Federal elections."

    Source last checked Oct 22, 2026

1982

  1. Jun 29, 1982 National Laws and rules Enacted

    Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982 become law

    Public Law 97-205, dated June 29, 1982, rewrote Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to bar any practice "imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." It also provided that a section 4 provision expires "at the end of the twenty-five-year period following the effective date" of the 1982 amendments.

    Related: Voting Rights Act reauthorized and amended in 2006 · Supreme Court decides Thornburg v. Gingles · Supreme Court decides City of Mobile v. Bolden · Supreme Court decides Louisiana v. Callais

    Source last checked Oct 29, 2026

1980

  1. Apr 22, 1980 National Courts and officials Decided by a court

    Supreme Court decides City of Mobile v. Bolden

    On April 22, 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a lower-court ruling against Mobile, Alabama's at-large election system. Four Justices concluded that "Racially discriminatory motivation is a necessary ingredient of a Fifteenth Amendment violation." Congress amended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in 1982.

    Related: Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982 become law

    Source last checked Oct 23, 2026

How this timeline is built

Every entry rests on at least one source that was opened and read, and that source states the date and the fact. Courts, legislatures, election offices, the Justice Department, the Census Bureau, the Federal Register and Congress.gov come first. A news report is used only when no official page states the fact, and it is labeled with the outlet's name. Encyclopedias are not used as sources. History starts in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. County names come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer. Congressional district numbers are those in use for the 2026 election; an event is tagged to a district only when its source names that congressional district.

When a later event changes an earlier one, such as a law later struck down, both entries are listed and point to each other. This page does not predict outcomes or say which party a change helps. U.S. House maps for 2026 · Back to the 2026 voting center.