NC soon could have new 2020 congressional maps after public hearing Wednesday
Republican and Democratic lawmakers in North Carolina have drawn up multiple proposed maps for the state’s 2020 congressional elections and are asking for the public’s input before the legislature votes on what to put in place.
People can submit written comments and for days, and dozens have. On Wednesday, dozens of people voiced their opinions at a public hearing after the maps had been posted online Tuesday.
“There are things that the public may recognize about these maps that frankly we didn’t know at the time we drew it,” said Republican Rep. David Lewis, a top redistricting leader, in an interview Tuesday.
If the committees don’t seek to make major edits after the public hearing, however, it’s possible a new map could be approved by the legislature soon — if not by the end of this week, then possibly by next week. After Wednesday’s public hearing, lawmakers scheduled another committee meeting for 9 a.m. Thursday. Whatever the legislature eventually passes would become law, since the governor is not allowed to veto redistricting bills.
Political considerations
Lewis said when Republicans drew the current maps in 2016, they tried to create a 10-3 Republican advantage. The three Democratic districts were packed with liberal voters, such that the incumbents each won in 2018 with around 70% of the vote.
Lewis’ claim about the 10-3 goal may have been part of the reason a panel of judges said those maps were likely to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. Lewis said Tuesday that this time it’s different.
“I don’t know what the political makeup of these maps are,” Lewis said. But he said it’s possible the new maps could be a little harder to predict than in the past, with more swing seats.
“We did not set out to intentionally make any areas less Republican, let’s say,” Lewis said Tuesday. “But if you do make an area less Republican, that means that the areas around it become less Democratic as well. So you may find that there’s some more competitive seats across the board.”
Lewis said it’s important for Republicans to get Democrats on board with whatever the new map looks like, so another potential lawsuit doesn’t delay the 2020 primary elections. He said he is “still optimistic that we can get there,” since many of the proposed maps already overlap in many places.
All the maps can be found at ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/NonStanding/6740 under the “documents” section. Most of the maps can be found in the Nov. 12 folder.
Transparency and reform
For generations, redistricting in North Carolina was done privately without public input or transparency. Both parties did it that way — Democrats for much of the last century, and Republicans in 2010.
But after a state court struck down the districts used to elect members of the state legislature earlier this year, the judges ordered a new level of transparency to the process. The legislature complied by not only bringing redistricting meetings into public view but also streaming those meetings live over the internet, and holding a public hearing.
After the same judges told lawmakers they should redraw the congressional maps, too, the legislature adopted the same transparency rules. Some outside observers say while it’s a step in the right direction, the system needs more comprehensive reforms.
Jane Pinsky, who leads the North Carolina Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform, has been in the room for virtually all of the legislative and congressional redistricting meetings this fall.
“It is more open than it was, but that is still a long way from what it should be,” Pinsky said Tuesday.
She said in states that have nonpartisan redistricting committees, the committee members sit down in public and talk about exactly what they’re doing, every step of the way.
In this North Carolina process, however, lawmakers have been sitting in relative silence around computers, working with staff members to draw a map, with little real-time explanation of what they’re doing or why. And while there likely will be more discussion later this week before the votes are cast, the committee so far has worked with relatively little formal debate among its members.
“There’s no back-and-forth here between the committee members,” Pinsky said. “And there is really no back-and-forth between the committee, and the legislature, and the public.”
Lewis dismissed such complaints.
“I don’t know who could possibly claim that a room in which all the map-drawing occurred live over the internet has not been open,” he said. “There are people who would complain if someone was walking in here handing out free candy.”
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This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 8:16 PM with the headline "NC soon could have new 2020 congressional maps after public hearing Wednesday."
