Once more, NC lawmakers reject chance to create fair maps

http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2017/08/28/nc-lawmakers-reject-chance-create-fair-maps/

This month, North Carolina lawmakers had a golden opportunity to adopt fair, nonpartisan standards for drawing new legislative voting districts. Instead, they opted for politics as usual, keeping partisanship at the core of a deeply flawed redistricting process.

The General Assembly has been ordered by a federal court to redraw dozens of racially gerrymandered legislative districts. This latest round of redistricting comes roughly 18 months after the legislature faced a separate court order to redraw racially gerrymandered congressional districts. Sadly, this is just the latest in a long line of lawsuits and controversies caused by gerrymandering in our state.

And so, the GOP-led legislature had in its hands a chance to finally end the cycle of gerrymandering by listening to the overwhelming majority of North Carolina citizens who want fair and impartial standards for creating our voting districts. Instead, the Republican majority rejected nonpartisan redistricting criteria, guaranteeing that new legislative districts will be blatantly gerrymandered, just as the old maps were.

That’s because the district lines are being manipulated with an eye toward past election results. It’s the key ingredient for creating gerrymandered maps that provide maximum advantage to the party in power.

How regrettable.

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