North Carolinians will follow up a tumultuous 2016 election cycle by heading to the polls multiple times in 2017.
A federal court has ordered the North Carolina General Assembly to redraw state legislative districts by March 15 after the court ruled 28 of the state’s House and Senate districts were ruled unconstitutional because they were racially gerrymandered. This ruling was issued after North Carolina Congressional maps were ruled unconstitutional last year for also being racially gerrymandered, meaning districts were strategically drawn in an effort to discount the vote of African-Americans.
No Orange County elected officials – House Representatives Graig Meyer and Verla Insko and Senator Valerie Foushee – are in districts that were ruled unconstitutional. But it is likely nearly every district in the state will be altered in some form because the unconstitutional districts are adjacent to others that were legally drawn by the Republican General Assembly leadership in 2011.
The districts in question were ruled unconstitutional in federal court in August, but the court allowed the November election to proceed because the court felt it did not allow enough time to redraw the districts and hold primary and general elections.
Orange County Board of Elections director Tracy Reams said it is too early to know what kind of financial impact will be felt locally through the additional election. Municipal races were already slated to be on the November 2017 election ballot, and the state races may be tied into that cycle. But even then a primary race will have to be held to determine the general election nominees in the newly drawn districts.
Republican leaderships has said it will appeal the decision. The original order declaring the districts unconstitutional has already been appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
The state Board of Elections, meanwhile, has yet to officially certify the results of the 2016 election amid protests filed across the state challenging the gubernatorial race, where Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper holds a lead over Republican incumbent Governor Pat McCrory.
NC Democratic Party Executive Director Kimberly Reynolds released the following statement regarding the federal court’s order:
“The North Carolina Democratic Party applauds the federal court’s order to redraw these gerrymandered legislative districts. Our elected officials should fairly represent our state, and redrawn districts will help level the playing field.”
Republican House Representative David Lewis and Senator Bob Rucho, two architects of the legislative maps, issued the following joint statement regarding the order:
“This politically-motivated decision, which would effectively undo the will of millions of North Carolinians just days after they cast their ballots, is a gross overreach that blatantly disregards the constitutional guarantee for voters to duly elect their legislators to biennial terms,” Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, and Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said in a joint statement. “We continue to believe the maps drawn by the General Assembly, pre-cleared by the Obama Justice Department and twice upheld by our state’s elected Supreme Court are constitutional, and we will move quickly to appeal.”
Southern Coalition for Social Justice executive director Anita Earls also issued a statement on the ruling; SCSJ was part of the representation for the plaintiffs in the case:
“North Carolinians deserve fair representation in the state legislature, and that is impossible to achieve with racially gerrymandered districts. A special election in the affected districts in 2017 is the best way to protect the rights of all North Carolinians.”
