Two South Carolina voters, including a former US congressman, have filed a lawsuit against the South Carolina Republican Party, arguing that the party violated state law, the state constitution, and the party's rules when its executive committee "unilaterally and unlawfully canceled the 2020 South Carolina Republican presidential preference primary."

Former US Rep Robert Durden Inglis, of Greenville County, and Frank Heindel, of Charleston County, filed the suit on Tuesday, October 1. They argue:

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However, plaintiffs argue that the party didn't follow any of the democratic safeguards required by law. But it is not just state law. The plaintiffs point to a party rule that requires a presidential primary unless “decided otherwise by the state party convention within two (2) years prior to each presidential election year.”

They also say that the Republican Party has turned its back on its own principles:

"[T]he Republican Party has gone so far as to argue to a court that canceling a presidential primary would cause 'irreparable harm to the public interest' because 'the citizens of South Carolina deserve an opportunity to vote on the Republican nominee for President of the United States.'”

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The Republican Party of South Carolina is one of a handful of Republican Parties that have cancelled their 2020 presidential primaries, denying even their own members an opportunity to vote for their preferred presidential candidate next year.

Read the full complaint: