Redistricting 2023
2023-Oct-28
By: Andy Perrigo
Redistricting, or reapportionment, is required by the US and NC Constitutions and is supposed to be done immediately after the US Census year – each "year that ends in zero." However, due to lawsuits and court redraws it has become common to see the redistricting process happen more than once in a decade. The US Constitution and the NC Constitution are largely silent as to the process, however. Redistricting is a political process due to the fact legislatures and Congress are supposed to do the reapportionment. Some states have "independent" commissions for redistricting. These really are not "independent", because the commissions are appointed by politicians and state legislatures usually have the opportunity to reject maps that are produced by commissions. Most states have criteria that was established in case law that gives guidance to the process. For example, NC was for years required to strictly follow the Voting Rights Act that was passed to ensure southern states drew a sufficient number of "majority-minority" districts so that people of minority races could get elected. (Racial gerrymandering to counteract racial gerrymandering.) NC also has a 2001 court case that gives guidance in drawing the state legislative maps. That case was a result of a lawsuit against the Democratic legislature which drew the infamous 'Mel Watt District' that stretched from Durham County to Mecklenburg County the width of I-85 to capture the urban areas of Durham, Greensboro, and Charlotte. Many locals will remember that Person County was in a district at that time represented by Brad Miller. Miller was the state senator that drew the maps that created the Watt Congressional district and created a friendly Congressional district for Miller would run for and win. In 2021, the NC Supreme Court ruled that the state House, Senate and Congressional maps were too politically gerrymandered, and ordered the NCGA to redraw the maps using some made-up criteria never before used in NC. The maps were redrawn and the Court liked the House map, but ordered that the Congressional and state Senate maps did not sufficiently follow the nebulous criteria that Justice Earles dictated. (Prior to her election to the Court, Earles headed up an organization that sued the legislature over previous maps and other legislative issues.) When the Supreme Court was given back to the conservative majority via statewide election, the NCGA began to plan to re-draw the Congressional map, as the Court ordered, and asked the NC Supreme Court to revisit the erroneous decision of the prior court. The new Court tossed out the previous decision and declared that the previous court had no constitutional right to insert itself into the map-drawing process. The Court agreed with the US Supreme Court by acknowledging that redistricting is a political process carried out by politicians that are elected every two years; and, that the role of the Court is to be sure existing law is followed and that there are no egregious racial outcomes in the process. So, Person County is in the new 13th district that encompasses rural and suburban counties from Person, around Wake, and collects in conservative Johnston County. This new district should be a very conservative district.
Overall, Republicans have a good chance to collect 10 of the 14 Congressional districts. The chance is so good, in fact, that Republicans expect for a lawsuit to be filed before the candidate filing period begins in December.
Nothing has changed with our state-Senate nor state-House districts.
