Category: Gerrymandering

Redistricting on hold due to gerrymandering...AGAIN

12/16/2021

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Dec 8th ordered that the state's March 2022 primary be delayed until May 17th so it can settle two lawsuits challenging Republican-drawn maps for Congress and the state's legislature. This also affects the filing timeframe since the primary is now postponed for an additional 2 months. That filing period is yet to be determined as of press time.

The non-partisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project has rated the recent North Carolina congressional map presented in November with an "F" for fairness, calling it one of the most gerrymandered maps in the nation. With the latest map, Republicans would have been all but guaranteed to win 10 of the 14 seats.

The way Watauga was mangled as part of the new 11th District (which included Wilkes and would have changed us from the 5th District to the 11th) to guarantee that Virginia Foxx would continue to win was particularly laughable. It dipped a tiny sliver into the Watauga just enough to include one of her several homes so she could live in the "district" without having to contend with the blue-leaning voters of Watauga.

Wilkes Remains in The New 5th Congressional District

12/11/2019

Due to a recent redistricting, North Carolina's 5th congressional district now covers the northwestern corner of North Carolina from the Appalachian Mountains at the Virginia border down to the SC border. Redistricting has changed its makeup over the years. In recent history, it included Forsyth, Yadkin and Surry counties, but now it reaches down to Gaston and Rutherford Counties. A special Redistricting of North Carolina’s US congressional districts were ordered by federal courts in February 2016. Afterward, this map was approved by the North Carolina State Legislature on February 19th, 2016, becoming Session Law 2016-1.

Most recently - on December 2nd, 2019 - after several court battles, a map was accepted and the 5th District changed again for the 2020 election cycle. Wilkes remains in the 5th District. Currently, the counties in the 5th district are • Alexander • Alleghany • Ashe • Burke • Caldwell • Catawba (tiny bit) • Cleveland • Gaston • Rutherford (partial) • Watauga and Wilkes.

On Monday, December 2nd, 2019, the three-judge panel overseeing our Congressional District challenge decided that the North Carolina General Assembly had not provided the court enough time to fully consider the evidence surrounding the latest challenge to the recently enacted Congressional District boundaries. (Once again, the Republican majority ran out the clock, a frequent tactic of the GOP in redistricting battles.)
Accordingly, the Congressional District maps (as revised most recently by the General Assembly) will remain in place for the 2020 elections. That map changed every Congressional District in some way – a fact that not only impacts candidates and voters, but also impacts our NCDP organizational structure, DNC delegate elections, and presidential elector elections.

Fortunately, Wilkes remains entirely in the 5th Congressional District. And we support David Wilson Brown in his journey to finally send Virginia Foxx to her big fancy mountain home for good.

There will be a 5th District Meeting on Saturday, January 11th at the Alexander Democratic Party HQ in Taylorsville at 9:30am. They will elect some new officers and appoint committee chairs to help fill the voids created by the recent redistricting.

Many Republicans have come to believe they will lose fair elections with high voter turnout

12/29/2018

The following is an article in the Friday NYtimes Opinion by David Leonhardt

While much of the country was focused on Donald Trump’s shocking victory in the presidential election two years ago, Republicans in North Carolina were attempting a brazen power grab. After their nominee — the sitting governor — lost re-election in November 2016, Republicans in the state decided to weaken the governor’s office. The state legislature passed two bills stripping the governor of some powers, and the outgoing governor, Pat McCrory, signed them.

In doing so, McCrory and his allies rejected the peaceful transfer of power that is essential to democracy. They instead chose the peaceful transfer of some power.

In 2018, it became clear that this problem extended beyond North Carolina. Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan followed the same strategy. Perhaps the most chilling aspect is that Trump had nothing to do with these power grabs. Most of the leadership of the Republican Party in each state decided that their overriding goal was partisan power.

Along similar lines, Republicans in many states also pushed to make voting more difficult. They closed polling places, reduced voting hours and introduced ludicrous bureaucratic hurdles — like requiring Native Americans who have no street address to have one in order to vote.

The struggle over American democracy is my choice for the year’s second most significant news story. It’s a struggle that goes to the core of American ideals and that will affect politics for years.

Fortunately, it’s also a struggle that has now been joined. This country has the beginnings of the pro-democracy movement that it needs.

In Florida, 65 percent of voters — which means large numbers of Democrats, Republicans and independents — approved a ballot initiative restoring the voting rights of people who had been convicted of a felony. In Missouri, 62 percent of voters approved a law to reduce corruption and gerrymandering. Pro-democracy initiatives also passed in a few other states. At the federal level, House Democrats have promised to make electoral reform the subject of the first bill they offer, after taking control next month.

Voting fairness isn’t simply a Democrat-versus-Republican story. In New Jersey, state Democrats recently pushed for an inequitable new gerrymandering plan — until progressive activists beat back the plan. Gerrymandering remains a problem in other blue states, like Illinois and Maryland. Across parts of the West, meanwhile, Republican officials have supported an expansion of voting by mail.

But if both parties deserve some blame, they don’t deserve anywhere near equal blame. The efforts to restrict voting (and the attempts at cheating) have come overwhelmingly from Republicans, while the efforts to expand voting access have come mostly from Democrats. The reason is obvious enough. Many Republicans have come to believe they will lose fair elections with high voter turnout.

In 2019 and beyond, I’ll be rooting for more Republican leaders to decide they can win elections the old-fashioned way: By persuading more voters that they deserve to win. Until they do, I hope voters across the political spectrum will punish Republican politicians who decide they care more about power than democracy. They’re going down a very dangerous road.

NC - The Poster Child For Political Shenanigans

1/12/2018

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Every North Carolina district just happens to look like a monster.

The Raleigh News and Observer broke the news and stated that "a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s election districts for U.S. Congress on Tuesday as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders and gave lawmakers until January 29 to bring them new maps to correct the problem." Here we go again with appeals, court documents, time and money.

"The judges were unanimous that North Carolina lawmakers under Republican leadership violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause when they drew maps explicitly to favor their party."

Rep. David Lewis, a Harnett County Republican who has shepherded the state’s recent redistricting efforts, stated “I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to ten Republicans and three Democrats because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with eleven Republicans and two Democrats.”

Just before Christmas, the NC General Assembly was again required to pay $1.4 million dollars to the attorneys that filed the original law suit for their successful challenge of unfair racial gerrymandering actions taken by our Republican controlled General Assembly.

This action brings the cost to around $7 million dollars not counting the wasted time and efforts for this detrimental act of governance.

Can our elected Representatives not find more productive and better use of their time than trying to "stack the deck" so they can remain in control of North Carolina State government?

However, our General Assembly has brought recognition to North Carolina. When ranked for electoral fairness by the Electoral Integrity Project which evaluated districts in all 50 states, North Carolina is absolutely last! NC scored 7 out of a possible 100 points! Somehow, I am not proud of North Carolina being the "poster child" for unfair political shenanigans.

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Workin' It Out Ain't Workin'

6/30/2017

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http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2017/06/30/lawmakers-attempt-set-timelines-racial-gerrymandering-case-court-will-final-say/#sthash.nj9NKhXp.04oP55rS.dpbs

http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2017/06/05/u-s-supreme-court-agrees-nc-legislative-districts-illegally-gerrymandered-based-race/

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Redistricting on hold due to gerrymandering...AGAIN

Wilkes Remains in The New 5th Congressional District

Many Republicans have come to believe they will lose fair elections with high voter turnout

NC - The Poster Child For Political Shenanigans

Workin' It Out Ain't Workin'

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