In a surprising turn of events, state legislatures passed new electoral maps for the Senate and House of Representatives on Sept. 17. It now falls to the three judges who originally started the entire remapping fiasco to decide if the new maps are fair or not.
Things look bright, however, as legislatures on both sides gush about the fairness of the new maps. Republican Sen. Ralph Hise told colleagues, “We have drawn these maps without any considerations of partisan data.” Democratic Sen. Jeff Jackson seemed to agree.
“These are the fairest maps, and this was the fairest process, in North Carolina in my lifetime,” Jackson said.
Quotes like these would lead you to believe that North Carolina could finally have fair elections with results that will perfectly reflect the voters — except the quotes don’t tell the full story.
The vote in the Senate passed with little fuss and mostly bipartisan agreement. Only eight Democratic senators voted against the maps, one of whom was Sen. Jeff Jackson. It turns out that Jackson, happy with the process and result for the maps, voted against them on the principle that politicians should not be the ones drawing maps. In this regard, I agree. But Jackson only touches on part of the larger picture, which is eliminating political gerrymandering as a whole.
For years, Republicans in the House used their majority to pass maps which kept Republicans in power. Those maps have now been ruled unconstitutional, but this trend has already done irreparable damage to North Carolina communities. Once the cycle of gerrymandering begins, it can be incredibly difficult to reverse. Our state is much better off eliminating the problem with entirely fair maps.
There are already cries of foul play and districts being gerrymandered. Greensboro and Charlotte saw the largest changes in the newly redrawn maps. According to Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College in Salisbury, the newly drawn maps predict Democrats losing several of their seats in Mecklenburg County with a new Republican-leaning district and three new toss-up districts.
Current and former officials from Columbus County raised objections to the new maps, as it is part of several districts in southeastern North Carolina which some Democrats say are drawn using political considerations. Sam Wang, founder of the Princeton University Gerrymandering Project, reveals that these new maps still contain between, “one-half and two-thirds of the partisan advantage that was present in the illegal gerrymander.”
If someone kept 50-66% of poison in a drink, could you call that drink poison-free? Is drawing a map with minimal bias to either party really that much of a Herculean effort that 50-66% can be considered an acceptable amount?
The maps have been drawn in what Senator Minority Leader Dan Blue called “the most transparent redistricting policy in history.” All aspects of the redrawing of the district had to be available to the public. There was a livestream of the entire process on YouTube, and no backroom negotiations were allowed at all. Yet, how did such transparency lead to maps that still have considerable political biases?
For the supposed “fairest maps,” they sure don’t seem that way. Members of both parties should stand for these basic fundamental rights if either of them has the smallest shred of political fairness. If they can’t even draw a map with minimal political bias, then how are we as voters supposed to trust them to truly represent us on matters that impact all of us?
It is now up to the judges to either pass these new maps as is or order another round of redrawing. There are very few states that are as politically diverse and divided as North Carolina, and we deserve a map that shows this political division as it truly is here in North Carolina. I would implore these judges to have as many rounds done as possible until these maps truly represent what the people want and what the people are voting for.
