Editorial
Election
Politics
As
we were going to press with this issue of the magazine, the state
Supreme Court halted the legislative primary elections scheduled for
May 7 while it evaluates the constitutionality of the new House and
Senate district maps adopted last fall by the General Assembly. The
Supreme Court’s 7-0 ruling applies only to legislative primary
elections, but the State Board of Elections concluded March 12 that it
would not be practical to proceed with the rest of the May 7 voting,
including congressional races.
The seven justices scheduled an April 4 hearing on the core question
of whether the district maps, as a lower court has determined, violate
a state constitution requirement that, whenever feasible, legislative
districts should include whole counties.
The original lawsuit was brought by leading Republicans who argued
vehemently that the majority Democrats in the legislature carved up
the state into safe Democratic districts at the expense of splitting
70 counties, far more than in the past. NC FREE agrees with that
assessment. It has estimated that the redistricting plan increased the
number of safe Democratic House seats from 25 to 38 and the number of
“favor Democratic” House seats from 16 to 22. Conversely, the plan
reduces the number of “safe Republican” House seats from 31 to 24.
You may remember the partisan rancor and political tug of war in the
House last fall over redistricting, an unseemly mess that finally was
resolved, 63-57, after five African-American Democrats demanded, and
got, a deal creating 15 districts where blacks are in the majority, up
from the 14 currently.
From our perhaps-too-close vantage point here in the State Capitol,
the redistricting donnybrook seemed like politics as usual. The
Democrats, who control both chambers, used their majority muscle to
redraw the maps to their advantage. No one doubts that if Republicans
had been in control, they would have done any differently.
But now two courts have determined that these machinations are bumping
up against the constitutional mandate that civics should never be
subservient to politics. It’s hard enough already for voters to
exercise their franchise, and forcing them to bear the additional
burden of keeping up with multiple district lines criss-crossing their
counties may be unreasonable.
If that’s the way this case ultimately is resolved — with the
courts standing up for the simple principle that you shouldn’t need
a highway map and a political tip sheet to find your way to the voting
booth — then postponing the May primaries will be an acceptable
inconvenience. -- Steve Tuttle
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