Fair & Legal Congressional Districts

A comparison between our map and the Republican map show that our plan is actually more fair and legal than the Republican proposal.

http://www.ncleg.net/gis/randr07/District_Plans/PlanPage_DB_2011.asp?Plan=Congressional_Fair_and_Legal&Body=Congress

• Partisan Competition
The majority’s map does not honor the partisan balance that exists in North Carolina. The majority’s map is, in effect, a 10-3 Republican map when an honest and realistic historical analysis is done. Our map accurately reflects the partisan preferences of North Carolina. We are a roughly 50-50 state as evidenced by historical election results. The majority has stated that at least one district –CD 12 -- was drawn based on the Obama-McCain results. So, let’s use that as a measure to compare the majority’s map and our fairer and more legal map. (As a reminder, President Obama carried North Carolina by only 14,000 some votes.) Under the majority’s map, President Obama would have carried only 3 of the 13 congressional districts and Senator McCain would have carried 10 districts. You find similar results using the statewide votes cast for each party’s candidate for Congress. Under our map, President Obama would have strongly carried 4 congressional districts, Senator McCain would have strongly carried 5 districts, and 4 other districts would have been more competitive. (Strongly carried = 55%+)

• Double Bunking
North Carolina has a fairly long practice of equitable congressional redistricting. In the last round of redistricting, the Democratic leadership made several accommodations to incumbent Republican Members of Congress. And, not in recent memory, if ever, have incumbent members (Ds or Rs) been put together in a congressional redistricting map. The majority’s map breaks that historical tradition and “double bunks” four Democratic Members of Congress (and interestingly, no Republican members). Our fairer and more legal map does not “double bunk” any incumbent member.

• Compliance with Voting Rights Act
We believe that the majority’s map fails to comply with the Voting Rights Act in two ways. First, it does not show due regard for the Section 5 communities in CD 1. It ignores counties relating to retrogression and that African-American voters are “packed” into districts so as to lessen their influence in the remaining districts. First, the law (and subsequent court rulings) does NOT require that the Black percentage in CD 1 be over 50%. The majority is using that claim and other incorrect VRA claims in order to justify the partisan gerrymander that they have perpetrated in the remaining districts. Our fairer and more legal map protects CD 1 consistent with what the laws requires…while at the same time keeping CD 1 a basically rural, Eastern NC district.

• Following Public Input
Unlike the majority, we have taken to heart many of the comments that were made online and in the public hearings. To us, the public comment opportunities were not just a dog and pony show, but rather a real opportunity to hear what the voters of North Carolina wanted to see in redistricting maps. We heard and responded to the citizens of Northeastern North Carolina who asked us to keep the 1st CD as intact as possible and a district with a rural focus. We heard and responded to the citizens of the Triangle who asked us to keep a congressional district focused on the Research Triangle Park. And, of course, some of the loudest protests in the public hearings came from the western part of our state regarding Asheville and Hickory. Unlike the Republican majority, we heard and responded to the citizens in western North Carolina, and our fairer and more legal map maintains a “mountain” district with Asheville wholly contained in the 11th and keeps Catawba County remains whole within the 10th CD.

• Compactness
By any measure, our fairer and more legal map is more compact and protects communities of interest far better than the majority’s map.
The majority’s map splits 40 counties…40% of all of the counties in North Carolina. We have had time to do some limited research and have not found another state that comes anywhere near that percentage of its counties split in a Congressional map. (Oklahoma is the highest we have found splits 28.6% of their counties.) The current 2001 congressional map splits 28 counties. Our far and legal map splits only 26 counties…And 10 of those because of the 1st CD and 5 because of the 12th CD, one of the most litigated CDs ever.
At the precinct level, our fairer and more legal map splits 55 precincts, while the majority’s map splits 76 precincts.