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North Carolina
Redistricting Litigation
March
28, 2002
North Carolina continues to be the
focus of critically important litigation on redistricting.
In the 1990s, the focus was on
congressional redistricting and the federal Voting Rights Act. In 2002, the state's
Republicans and Democrats are locked in a struggle over legislative
redistricting.
The state Supreme Court called off legislative primaries
pending its decision on whether the state constitution requires
that counties be kept undivided in redistricting. The case was
heard on April 4, 2002.
The DKT
Liberty Project and the Center for Voting and Democracy filed an
amicus brief
(available here in .pdf format) that argues for a remedy using
alternative voting systems in multimember districts. Such alternative voting systems
are used in jurisdictions across the South, especially
in Alabama, Texas, and in North Carolina. Common Cause of
North Carolina has endorsed this proposal.
Based on the demographic
composition of the districts and by using an alternative voting
method, more racial minorities could be elected to the state
legislature. Currently, people of color represent 26 percent of
North Carolina�s VAP but hold only 15 percent of legislative
seats. See how the opportunities for black elected officials
will increase with the use of a Full Representation system for
both the House and the Senate (available here in .rtf
format). For
more information on Full Representation systems please check out our
manual
.
One of the concerns expressed about multimember
districts is the potential costs of campaigning. It turns out
that campaign costs do not necessarily rise in larger
districts. Please see the Center's study on campaign
costs and multimember districts.
The Center's long-time member, Lee Mortimer, of North Carolina
has conducted a great deal of research, writing, and other
work on the issue of fair representation in North Carolina's elections.
He has produced one possible alternative for North Carolina
to consider to resolve this lawsuit. Read Lee Mortimer's plan
for North Carolina elections, as well as maps of multimember
State House and Senate districts that he drafted. Also
find Lee's demographic analysis of North Carolina districts and a
newspaper article in which he outlined this proposal in the
Raleigh News & Observer.
See the Center for Voting and Democracy's press release announcing the
filing of our amicus brief.
More on voting rights and alternative voting
systems. |
