One of the most striking features of the NC GOP's proposed redistricting plan is their attempt to use the court-ordered redrawing of the gerrymandered districts as a ploy to re-draw much of the legislative map in its favor. By re-configuring county groupings and then redrawing the districts within them, they have reached far beyond the gerrymandered districts and redrawn two-thirds of the NC House map under the guise of fixing the current split counties THEY CREATED.
This map highlights in bright green the racially gerrymandered districts that the Republican legislature was ordered to redraw. Those in darker green are bordering districts that were also re-drawn in the proposed GOP maps. The twenty-four districts in yellow were re-drawn despite not sharing a border with any bright green (currently racially gerrymandered) district.
In some cases – like district 94 in Alleghany and Wilkes Counties in the northwest corner of the state – the NC GOP has re-drawn districts that are nearly 100 miles away from the nearest racially gerrymandered district in Guilford County.
And, in other cases – like district 36 in Wake County – not only does the district fail to touch a racially gerrymandered district or fall into a new county grouping, but it was re-drawn in a way that doesn't help address racial bias and instead only serves to protect a vulnerable GOP incumbent by cannibalizing Republican-leaning precincts from nearby districts.
You can read more about the violations of the state and federal constitution in the GOP's redistricting plan in the letter sent by Anita Earls, Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and lead attorney for plaintiffs in the Covington case, to the NCGA yesterday. (Link in the comments below.)
The current Legislature was elected under unconstitutional maps. They were ordered by a federal court to draw maps that would give minority voters a fair voice in state government. Instead, they have drawn maps that use recent demographic changes and voting data to cement their illegal hold on state government.
These maps are not final. The court can reject them and order a special master to redraw the maps. The future of North Carolina’s democracy depends on all citizens making their voices heard and demanding that the power to draw legislative maps be removed from the legislature.
Please share this post to help get the word out to as many folks as possible. We need fair maps to restore a functioning democracy to our state. It is absolutely critical that we speak out over the next several weeks as this plays out in the NCGA and Federal Court.