Eight months after the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in favor of congressional and legislative voting maps drawn by the Republican-led General Assembly in 2011, the maps were back before the court on Monday. The U.S. Supreme Court in April ordered the state court to take another look at the maps in light of a decision on an Alabama redistricting case where the justices found lawmakers in that state relied too much on “mechanical” numerical percentages while drawing legislative districts in which blacks comprised a majority of the population. Those who sued over North Carolina’s maps in 2011 believe the ruling in the Alabama matter is spot on with the boundaries drawn by the General Assembly. They argue that it confirms two dozen legislative districts, along with the majority-black 1st and 12th congressional districts, should be struck down and maps redrawn quickly by the legislature for the 2016 elections.
Pointing to the odd shape of Senate District 34, for example, Edwin Speas, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said “race is the only explanation” for how the district was drawn. “There is no legitimate criteria that explains this appendage, these split precincts, or this appendage,” Speas said.
Anita Earls, an attorney for the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, two groups that also sued over the maps, said split precincts discourage voting because people are confused as to the districts in which they can vote and the candidates for whom they can vote.
Full Article: Voting maps back before NC Supreme Court :: WRAL.com.