Bill would alter redistricting

A bipartisan bill filed Tuesday in the state Senate aims to take the political tool of redistricting out of legislators’ hands.

Sens. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, and Hamilton Horton Jr., R-Forsyth, are calling for an independent committee to redraw district lines every 10 years.

After every census, states are required to ensure that each district has a comparable number of constituents. The majority party in the legislature typically uses this process to its advantage.

The committee would examine districts both for U.S. congressmen and state legislators.

North Carolina think tanks from opposite ends of the political spectrum stand behind the bill: the conservative John Locke Foundation and the liberal Common Sense Foundation.

“It’s funny,” said David Mills, executive director for the Common Sense Foundation. “There are few issues we come to a similar conclusion on. It’s fairly rare.”

Both organizations said redistricting now benefits the party in power, reducing political competition.

Don Carrington, vice president of the John Locke Foundation, said members of the majority party draw districts that will get their incumbents re-elected by ensuring that each district holds enough voters affiliated with their party.

“The current practice is basically, legislators pick their own voters.”

Parties also avoid putting two of their incumbents in the same district, even if they live near each other, because one of them would have to be voted out, he said.

Legislators can use precise computer programming to draw lines that are street-specific and sometimes produce strange shapes that don’t run along county borders.

But under the reform, the committee wouldn’t be allowed to consider where incumbents live when redistricting, Mills said.

As the minority party, N.C. Republicans largely support the reform effort. But Mills said Democrats should get on board, too. “Democrats have to realize that there will come a time when they’ll be the minority party.”

Republicans controlled a chamber in 2003, when they had a 61-59 majority in the House before one of their own switched parties.

Mills said expensive court battles over redistricting in recent years might persuade Democrats to finally support the years-long reform effort. “That provides extra impetus. Chances are better than ever.”

Court decisions have forced the state to use three different maps in the past three elections, Mills said.

The bill doesn’t include details about how the independent panel would be chosen, but a failed Kinnaird-Horton redistricting bill filed in March 2003 called for input from several state officials.

The chief justice of the state Supreme Court, the House speaker and the Senate president pro tem each would choose two panel members, and the governor would choose three members. All would be required to make selections from more than one political party.

In Iowa, redistricting is done by a balanced committee of nonlegislators. That approach has proven successful, said Jennifer Duffy, political analyst for The Cook Political Report.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.