RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican lawmakers proposed rules this week that would bar them from using racial demographic and election data to draw political maps that will be used for the next decade of North Carolina elections.
That proposal is one of the first of many steps in the map-drawing process, also known as redistricting, which can begin in state legislatures across the country when the U.S. Census Bureau releases a fresh batch of decennial population data Thursday.
States usually redraw their maps after the census releases that data once every 10 years. The process hasn’t worked that way in North Carolina in recent years, though, as the state has been embroiled in court battles for the last decade over districts Republican lawmakers drew in 2011.
As a result of that, the courts ordered legislators to redraw maps with specific criteria numerous times after finding state lawmakers crafted districts to disenfranchise both minority and Democratic voters. One such gerrymandering case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a majority of justices set a historic precedent by ruling federal courts were not the venue to correct claims of unfair partisan map-making. Justices sent that case back to the state court, which forced lawmakers to redraw lines again for the 2020 election cycle.
This year’s redistricting process and new data release give North Carolina’s Republican-majority General Assembly somewhat of a fresh start.
The legislature’s joint redistricting committee proposed rules Monday that, if adopted, will serve as guideposts throughout the map-drawing process. They also indicate what factors the Republican-led state legislature will and won’t prioritize when they draw new districts.
Since those rules, known as redistricting criteria, were released Monday, Democrats and voting rights advocates this week have critiqued them, saying eliminating the use of that racial data in particular will make it difficult for the state to comply with the Voting Rights Act.
“How do you comply with the VRA if you don’t consider racial data?” said Democratic Sen. Ben Clark, a Democrat from Raeford, in an interview with The News & Observer Wednesday. “You can’t. The VRA is about providing fair treatment to racial minorities. You can’t do that if you’re not using racial data.”
Clark also said that many lawmakers know the racial or political makeup of districts without looking at the data. The current criteria, Clark said, doesn’t prevent lawmakers’ own knowledge of their districts from informally being considered in drawing those maps.
Since Republicans proposed the new redistricting criteria Monday, members of the public have pointed to numerous other changes that should be made before the proposal is adopted.
The committee held a hearing Tuesday to give the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed rules, where most who spoke critiqued the 10-point list.
“These redistricting criteria are unfortunately so vague that I worry that they do not actually constrain the map drawing in any meaningful way,” said Lekha Shupeck, who serves as the North Carolina state director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Republicans have argued, though, that the criteria proposed are the same as what was proposed in 2019, when the court again ordered the legislature to redraw some districts. Both Democrats and Republicans that year said it was the most transparent of redistricting processes, though Democrats have said this year that the process could still be improved.
This year’s criteria is not exactly similar to 2019’s, however. One rule, known as “incumbent protection,” demonstrates such a difference.
In 2019, the criteria said, “mapmakers may take reasonable efforts to not pair incumbents unduly in the same election district.”
This year’s proposed language, by contrast, says “member residence may be considered in the formation of legislative and congressional districts.”
Members of the public and voting rights advocates also criticized the guideline that would mean legislators could consider where current lawmakers reside as a factor in how they draw districts. If adopted, this means Republicans will try not to draw a district that incorporates two incumbents, also known as “incumbent protection.”
Lawmakers also included several required criteria in the proposal, including grouping counties together and ensuring each district is connected to other parts of the district and equal or nearly equal to the population of other districts.
But Clark and other Democrats have criticized Republicans for not prioritizing those criteria in the proposal, however.
Each of the criteria should be ranked, so if there are two rules in conflict “you default to the higher level,” Clark said.
After the committee considers amendments Thursday morning, it will vote to formalize the redistricting criteria, but they aren’t legally binding. Like any legislative rule, the committee could in theory change them at any time.
Tyler Dukes contributed to this report.
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