Voting district maps crafted by Republican lawmakers advance
On Monday, North Carolina Republicans advanced a proposed congressional district map for the next decade that, if enacted, would give the GOP a clear advantage — placing 10 out of 14 congressional seats in favor of the Republican Party.
The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave the plan an “F” grade for partisan fairness, for it’s bias towards Republican seats. Amid the release of proposed congressional and House maps, North Carolina voters and advocacy groups have called out the blatant effort by Republicans to manipulate the maps to heavily favor their party while diminishing the voices of voters living in various communities across the state.
- Historically, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly tried to give themselves unfair political advantages through racially-motivated gerrymandering — a tactic whereby the state’s GOP drew legislative districts that gave the party advantages in races for U.S. Congress, N.C. General Assembly and the state legislature.
- The North Carolina legislature’s process for drawing new N.C. House and Senate voting maps appear no different, with Republicans continuing to carve out maps that deprive communities of fair representation and separate neighboring cities and towns in the same district.
- “There’s only one way to describe it: It is cheating, plain and simple,” said Sen. Wiley Nickel, D-Wake. “You are cheating and robbing the voters of any real choice at the ballot box with this map.”
- “North Carolina cannot handle another decade of unconstitutional maps,” stated Allison Riggs, Co-Executive Director and Chief Counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “The harm that that does to our democracy is one that we’ve been feeling the ramifications of for 10 years. It’s too much and we’re going to start fighting back today”.
Once again, state redistricting leaders have failed to listen to North Carolinians. The lack of transparency, last-minute public hearings, and difficulty for voters to view proposed maps makes it all too clear that Republicans chose to completely disregard their words.
Bottom Line:
GOP politicians bent the rules that ensure equal representation to yet again draw safe Republican seats to lock in power for the next decade and deprive communities of color of their constitutional rights to fair political representation.
As a resident of Orange County stated in a recent public hearing, “This is gerrymandering at its worst”.
Want to ensure you and your community have fair representation? Contact your state legislators and tell them to oppose the proposed maps from GOP leadership.
