Town of North, Orangeburg County, South Carolina

In September 2003 the town of North in Orangeburg County, South Carolina proposed to annex a small population of Whites into their town. However, because South Carolina is covered by Section 5 of the VRA, the Department of Justice performed an investigation to determine whether this change would discriminate against minority voters. Ultimately, the Department concluded that the annexation could not go forward because "race appears to be an overriding factor in how the town responds to annexation requests." The letter denying the town approval to proceed with the annexation indicated that in the early 1990s, a large number of Blacks who reside to the southeast of the town's current boundary made a petition for annexation that was denied, and that the town gave no explanation for the denial. And, the DOJ letter notes that the granting of the petition by this group of Blacks "would have resulted in black persons becoming a majority of the town's population." Based on their investigation, the Department concluded that the county did not provide equal access to the annexation process for Black and Whites. They blocked the proposed annexation from taking effect.