Lawsuit: North Carolina’s 2024 election maps are racially biased
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina voting-rights advocates sued Tuesday to overturn all of the redistricting plans drawn by Republicans and being used starting with the 2024 elections, saying legislative leaders unlawfully weakened the electoral influence of Black voters.
The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, Common Cause and eight Black residents filed a lawsuit in federal court. They accuse GOP legislative leaders of intentionally moving this fall boundary lines for General Assembly and congressional districts in part so that many Black voters will be prevented from having the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates. Instead, the plaintiffs contend, Black voting blocs are submerged into districts with white majorities that don’t normally vote for Black candidates.
For decades, Black residents have overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates.
“The General Assembly targeted predominantly Black voting precincts with surgical precision throughout the state in drawing and enacting the 2023 Plans, at the expense of traditional redistricting criteria, to achieve preferred district lines that diminish Black voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice at all levels of government,” the lawsuit’s authors wrote.
Tuesday’s lawsuit marks at least the third and most comprehensive litigation filed by voters since the Republicandominated General Assembly enacted new maps in October for its own districts and for North Carolina’s congressional delegation that are designed to boost GOP clout for years to come.
While the plaintiffs wrote they want the maps thrown out so no elections can be held under them — alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act — their goal doesn’t aim to block their use for next year’s elections. Instead, the lawsuit seeks remedial maps be enacted for use no later than the 2026 general election.
The maps enacted in October put Republicans in good shape to win at least 10 of the state’s 14 congressional seats next November and to retain majorities in the state Senate and House, according to redistricting experts and statewide election data. The maps, if upheld, are supposed to be used through the 2030 elections.