NC lawmakers will not use racial and election data from the census to draw district maps
State lawmakers voted Thursday to adopt guidelines that they’ll follow in drawing the political maps that will be used in North Carolina elections for the next decade. As a result, North Carolina’s General Assembly can’t use racial demographic and election data to inform how those maps are drawn this year.
With the U.S. Census Bureau release of decennial population data Thursday afternoon, that vote, which came just 15 minutes before the census released its data, was one of the first of many steps lawmakers must complete before using that data to draw state legislative and congressional districts.
Because the census conducts a nationwide headcount and releases the resulting data only every 10 years, state legislatures across the country redraw political maps based on that data just once a decade. The process hasn’t always worked that way in North Carolina, though, as the swing state was embroiled in court battles for years over districts Republican lawmakers drew in 2011. The courts found those maps had disenfranchised both minority and Democratic voters.
Whether North Carolina ends up in court again over the outcome of this year’s redistricting process still remains to be seen, but the rules lawmakers adopted Thursday, known as redistricting criteria, will determine what data the Republican-majority legislature will use when they draw the political maps. The end result will influence what party continues to control the state and set policy until 2030.
Republicans are already exerting their power over the process. In a joint House and Senate redistricting committee hearing Thursday, they swiftly dismissed all but one of the changes Democrats suggested to redistricting rules, saying GOP leaders had already “deliberated” some of the suggestions “at length,” though those discussions were not public.
“The current criteria is sufficient and appropriate for this committee,” said Republican House Rules chairman Destin Hall in response to one of the Democrat-sponsored amendments. “I ask you to vote against the amendment.”
In addition to proposing numerous amendments in an attempt to change the criteria, Democrats repeatedly criticized the Republican-proposed guidelines, saying some of the criteria were vague, or even unconstitutional.
Democrats pointed to a guideline known as “incumbent protection,” that would mean legislators could consider where current lawmakers reside as a factor in how they draw districts so as not to draw two legislators into the same district, saying it would favor incumbents.
As written, it says the addresses of lawmakers “may be considered” in drawing districts.
“The words ‘may be’ are very vague,” said Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Democrat from Davidson. “That says to me that we might help current members stay in their districts and we might not help others.”
Democrats also argued that eliminating lawmakers’ ability to use racial data to draw the maps would mean districts would not comply with the Voting Rights Act, and pointed to two other provisions as vague: One that says lawmakers “may consider” municipal boundaries,” and another that says lawmakers can split voting districts “only when necessary.”
Four of the 10 guidelines adopted by the committee are a constitutional requirement: drawing districts that comply with the Voting Rights Act, drawing districts within groupings of counties and ensuring each district is connected to other parts of the district and equal or nearly equal to the population of other districts.
The remaining guidelines say lawmakers should make “reasonable efforts” to draw districts compactly, knowledge of communities “may be considered” and election data shall not be used.
House Rules chairman Hall said it was the first time in the state’s history lawmakers are voluntarily opting to eliminate the use of partisan election data in drawing districts.
The committee will meet again next week to discuss plans to hold a public comment period.
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This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 2:23 PM.
