ACLU Expert Warns: South Carolina Voter Purge is Disproportionately Targeting People of Color

People are moving to South Carolina in historic numbers, yet the state’s voter rolls are shrinking, according to a new report. With the November midterms approaching, voting-rights experts and activists are raising concerns about the unusual trend, one they say is disproportionately affecting Black and Brown communities.

The state removed roughly 1.2 million voters from its registration rolls between 2022 and 2025, according to the ACLU of South Carolina report. For Jace Woodrum, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina, the numbers raise a larger question about who is being left out of the electorate and whether the state’s voter roll maintenance process is disproportionately affecting voters of color.

“Black voting power is on the line again, even as communities of color grow in South Carolina,” Woodrum told The Root in an exclusive interview. “That growth is absolutely coming from communities of color. But we’re seeing those communities’ share of registered voters shrinking.”

The report found that the 1.2 million voters removed were more than the number of new voters who registered in the same period. That disparity is particularly pronounced among South Carolina’s Black and Brown voting-age population, which grew by roughly 6% from 2022 to 2024. At the same time, the number of Black and Brown registered voters fell by roughly 4% between 2022 and 2025.

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That pattern prompted questions about why voters of color appear to be experiencing greater losses from the rolls.

“Why is South Carolina removing Black and brown voters from the rolls at a greater rate? What is the motivation here?” Woodrum continued. “I can’t speculate about motivation, but we can see the outcome. The outcome is clear as day.”

The report arrives against the backdrop of the U.S. Supreme Court’s gutting of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Republican-led concerns over voter integrity, which manifested in the controversial SAVE America Act, and other redistricting efforts across the country, as we previously reported. For Black Americans, including those who fought to secure voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement, the current struggle is familiar. For Woodrum, it’s concerning.

“Maintaining our voter rolls is necessary and important. It’s required by law for every state,” he said. “These data in South Carolina show that our process is disproportionately removing voters of color, and that’s unacceptable.”

Many voters were removed after failing to respond to a single piece of physical mail confirming their information and willingness to remain registered, he told us. Now, Woodrum’s message is clear and urgent: check before it is too late.

“If you’ve recently moved, if you’ve not voted in the last four years, if you don’t have easy access to the mail, you absolutely should check your registration,” he said. “It takes 5 minutes to check your registration.”

The deadline for South Carolina voters to register is Oct. 2.

But even outside of the state, Woodrum wants all voters of color to be proactive. The ACLU is doing its part by launching a voter-protection campaign and recruiting poll monitors to safeguard elections and prevent voter intimidation. We also told you that the Trump administration has plans to deploy federal agents at polling sites to ensure safe elections. Critics, however, say it’s another way to deter folks from casting their ballots.

“The fastest way we lose it is by thinking we don’t have it,” the director continued. “So I always want to remind people that we do have power.”