NC Republicans revive some old map-drawing antics. Even conservatives aren’t happy | Opinion

North Carolina Republican lawmakers are drawing new legislative and congressional maps, and they’re apparently back to using old tricks.

According to WUNC Capitol bureau chief Colin Campbell, redistricting maps are being drawn this week in private rooms — unlike in years past, when the process occurred in the public eye.

Because who needs transparency, anyway?

Such blatant disregard for accountability and public oversight should concern everyone, Democrat or Republican. And it has. The news drew criticism even from conservatives at the John Locke Foundation, who called it “not good” and “not the right move.”

As WRAL’s Will Doran pointed out, redistricting in North Carolina was always done in secret up until 2019, when a court forced more transparency into the process. Upon declaring maps used last decade unconstitutional, the court found that Republican lawmakers made “highly improbable” claims about who really drew the maps and whether it was done outside of the public eye. As a result, the entire process was livestreamed, and negotiations were forbidden outside of public view.

Two years later, when maps were redrawn again after the 2020 census, GOP lawmakers bragged it was the “most transparent redistricting process in state history.”

“We’ve heard people want transparency. We’ve heard folks want to have input on how the maps are drawn,” Rep. Destin Hall, chairman of the House Rules Committee, said at the time.

That turned out to be a lie, though, because Hall later admitted in court that he used secret maps, drawn privately by his aide, as a guide when he drafted the new House districts, and that he and key staffers would retreat to a private room for “strategy sessions” to discuss the maps.

So the secrecy isn’t anything new — but Republicans have apparently given up on even pretending that transparency is part of the process. Perhaps we ought to thank them at least having the decency not to lie about it.

But what makes it worse this year is that North Carolinians will likely never have the chance to find out how new redistricting decisions are made, even after the fact. In addition to drawing maps in secret, Republicans used the recently passed state budget to repeal a law that made all draft materials and communications related to redistricting public record.

Of course, Republicans aren’t the only ones who have kept the public in the dark when it comes to redistricting. Democrats are guilty of secrecy and gerrymandering in North Carolina, too. It’s wrong no matter who does it, and it chips away at the public’s trust. Republicans didn’t like it back when they were in the minority, but now that they have a chance to use it to their own advantage, they no longer have an objection. That’s not surprising, and it’s still unacceptable.

This story was originally published October 3, 2023 at 10:07 AM with the headline "NC Republicans revive some old map-drawing antics. Even conservatives aren’t happy | Opinion."