Wednesday, September 04, 2019

'Extreme partisan gerrymandering': North Carolina judges rule legislative maps violate state Constitution

https://news.yahoo.com/extreme-partisan-gerrymandering-north-carolina-014344612.html

Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY
,USA TODAY•September 3, 2019

Officials in North Carolina have two weeks to redraw the state’s legislative district maps following a court's decision Tuesday that strikes down the current districts for "extreme partisan gerrymandering" intended to benefit Republicans in the state's General Assembly.

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Specifically, the court found: “The effect of these carefully crafted partisan maps is that, in all but the most unusual election scenarios, the Republican Party will control a majority of both chambers of the General Assembly. In other words, the Court finds that in many election environments, it is the carefully crafted maps, and not the will of the voters, that dictate the election outcomes in a significant number of legislative districts and, ultimately, the majority control of the General Assembly."

State lawmakers now have until September 18 to draw new legislative districts.

Additionally, the entire process must be conducted in full public view, including that all map-drawing be done at public hearings with any relevant computer screen visible to legislatures and observers, the court also ordered Tuesday.

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