A state-wide public hearing was held on Monday to discuss the redrawing of voting districts. The hearing was held via tele-conference.
Last week a Federal Appeals Court rejected a request to uphold the current electoral districts for the upcoming primary. Lawmakers must redraw the districts by Friday unless the US Supreme Court rules that the districts can be maintained.
State Senator Bob Rucho said he and his colleagues would work to keep the districts as they are but he said public input on the process was important.
“We will exercise all avenues of appeal to see that [the districts] remain in place, however because of the compressed timeline imposed upon us by the court and in light of our ongoing appeal and request for a stay, we think it’s a prudent course to open a public comment process in an event that the maps need to be redrawn,” said Rucho.
The US Supreme Court previously ordered the State Supreme Court to review the voting districts. The State Supreme ruled the districts were constitutional. That decision was then appealed to a federal court, which ordered the redrawing of the districts.
Proponents of the districts continue to defend the districts legality. Opponents of the districts say they were drawn based on race.
The districts in question are the 1st district, which includes northern Durham and rural areas in the northeast part of the state and the 12th district, which runs along I-85 from Charlotte to Greensboro.
Brain Fitzsimmons is the chair of the Wake County Democratic Party.
“You tried to fix a problem that does not exist. Senate and Congressional districts 1st and 12th had elected African American candidates without the redistricting process of putting predominately African American voter roles into each of those districts,” said Fitzsimmions.
Helen Pannullo, Chairman of the 7th District Republican Party, said the time frame given by the court was too short.
“The requirement to redraw the 1st and the 12th [districts] by February 19, just four days from today is an impossible task. One has to wonder why the court has imposed such an unreasonable deadline,” said Pannullo.
Thomas Keith Thompson, a small business owner from Woodson, said that the short time frame should not be a problem.
“The eyes of the world are upon you. It is always the right time to do the right thing,” said Williams.
Earl Johnson, of Raleigh, said that the issues around redistricting are reminiscent of past policies.
“These districts move us back to a day of segregation that most of us thought we had already moved away from,” said Johnson.
The districts were drawn by the Republican majority legislature in 2011 but North Carolina has a long history of gerrymandering by both Democrats and Republicans. Democrats controlled both houses of the state legislature for most of the 20th century.
Tom Byers from Asheville urged the legislature to consider a non-partisan committee to draw the voting districts.
“I respectfully urge you legislators what a significant contribution would be made to a government of, by and for the people of North Carolina if you will take a step in direction of redistricting reform,” said Byers.
Lawmakers will meet this week in Raleigh to redraw the districts unless the Supreme Court rules that the districts can be maintained until after the March primary.
North Carolina Congressional Districts. Photo via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina’s_congressional_districts
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