Tom Waring: Turning minority into majority

After doing some research, I found from 2000 to 2012 the N.C. State Board of Elections documented 631 cases of voter fraud. The NCSBE also reported that in general elections from 2008 to 2014, North Carolina voters for the 13 U.S. House of Representatives were almost evenly split.

Gerrymandering has allowed those 13 seats to be allocated as 10 Republicans (or 77 percent) and three Democrats (23 percent). With an average of 1.7 million-plus Democratic voters over that same time period, they are under-represented by 27 percent or 460,000 constituents.

So, what is the greater voter fraud? While there is great outrage about voter ID fraud, regardless of party, the bigger story in voter fraud is under-representation by gerrymandering.

By no means were the Democrats immune to such chicanery, but beginning in 2008, of the 13 N.C. representatives, Democratic representation has dropped from eight, to seven, to four, to three.

Both parties need to have nonpartisans redraw the districts. The current politicians can’t possibly look in the mirror in good conscience and say this is fair and democratic. No wonder we are so polarized.

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Tom Waring: Turning minority into majority."