NC congressional redistricting faces federal challenges

For more than 100 years, Democratic legislators at the N.C. General Assembly have drawn congressional and state legislative districts for voter representation.

Now that a Republican majority is in charge of the redistricting process, leaders say their proposed districts will avoid the legal challenges that have marred several of the state’s electoral maps in previous decades.

But Democrats and civil rights leaders say the same proposals pack minorities into fewer areas to dilute their voting strength.

The federal Voting Rights Act requires certain districts to have a majority of minority voters. Eight of these 11 N.C. Senate districts and 17 of the 27 N.C. House districts would see an increase in black voter registration under the proposal.

The new districts will account for growth in the state’s population, which has increased by 18.5 percent or almost 1.5 million since 2000. N.C. is now the 10th largest state in the nation.

The proposed electoral maps will be subject to amendments in redistricting committees. Final votes will be held at the end of July for the districts, which cannot be vetoed by Gov. Bev Perdue.

Though Republicans can essentially pass their proposed districts without substantial changes, federal guidelines and legal hurdles must be met before the maps are implemented. Brent Laurenz, director of outreach for the N.C. Center for Voter Education, said the state has become famous for litigation involving new district maps.

“We’re kind of the ground zero for federal lawsuits and things like that for redistricting,” he said. “At this point, somebody will file a lawsuit no matter what.”

State and federal scrutiny

Laurenz said there have been at least 25 cases brought against state electoral maps in the last two decades. Thornburg v. Gingles, a U.S. Supreme Court case that originated in the state in the 1980s, provided the basis for the protection of minority voting rights in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Laurenz said majority-minority districts will likely receive federal “preclearance” from the U.S. Department of Justice based on the department’s recent approval of maps for partially Republican-controlled Louisiana and Virginia.

Other potential districts would pose “double-bunking” problems for incumbent lawmakers.

The proposed 23rd district now held by Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, would encompass both Orange and Chatham counties. Kinnaird would face a reelection battle with fellow Democratic Sen. Bob Atwater, who currently represents Chatham county.

House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, would be grouped into the new 56th district with Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange.

Democrats have also criticized the proposed congressional districts for the state’s 13 U.S. House seats. The percentage of registered Republican voters would increase in four districts occupied by Democratic congressman.

U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., would no longer represent all of Orange and Durham counties if the new maps are approved. Price’s new district would be limited to the southern half of both counties and would extend about 80 miles south of Chapel Hill to include a section of Fayetteville.

“This map takes one of the state’s most compact districts, the fourth… and scatters it over seven counties,” Price said in a statement. “This draft map will and should receive intense scrutiny.”

Efforts at reform

Whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge of drawing the districts, the maps will inevitably be skewed for partisan advantage, Laurenz said.

“Either way, it’s going to give you that perception out there that these people are sitting down and drawing their own districts,” he said. “So, of course, it just makes sense that they’re not going to do it in a vacuum.”

Rep. William Current, R-Gaston, sponsored a bill in the most recent legislative session that would have enabled the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Office to draw districts.

But the bill would not go into effect until after the 2020 census. Current said the state has the resources right now for an independent redistricting process.

“I know we have the technological abilities to do it in an outside commission,” he said. “So, in all due respect, I’m not buying that we couldn’t have done it that way if we wanted to do it that way.”

Current said he hopes to resurrect the stalled bill as a constitutional amendment to prevent future legislatures from politicizing the redistricting process.

“It’s kind of sad for one side of the street to be voting for one (legislator) and people on the other side of the street (for someone else),” he said. “It’s just hard to take the politics out of anything.”

Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.