Judges: New electoral map needed for November
RALEIGH, N.C. — It wasn’t surprising when a panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s congressional map, saying Republican state legislators went too far using political data to preserve GOP-held seats. But their suggested timetable to fix the problem was startling.
The judges this week raised the possibility of redrawing the districts by mid-September so they could be used in November elections, or at least before the next session of Congress is seated in January. Late congressional elections could bring huge attention to these races if the party that controls the U.S. House hasn’t been settled.
Republican state legislative leaders said Tuesday a quick redraw of 13 congressional districts would lead to “unmitigated chaos and irreparable voter confusion.” Primaries were already held in May using the current maps, which had been approved for 2016 elections. But the state Democratic Party says voters “should not have to suffer through yet another election” with unconstitutional districts. Some previous boundaries approved in 2011 were struck down more than four years later as racial gerrymanders.
Monday’s decision on two partisan gerrymandering lawsuits largely mirrored the panel’s January ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court had directed the judges to revisit the matter based on a Wisconsin case.
The three-judge panel asked the parties in the lawsuits — election advocacy groups, Democrats, Republican mapmakers and the state elections board — to say by Friday whether the 2016 maps should be used again.
Writing for the panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Jim Wynn said they would normally allow the state to wait for districts to be redrawn in 2020.
But Wynn wrote there are “unusual circumstances” that make elections under new lines possible this fall. They include a showdown between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican lawmakers over proposed constitutional amendments that have delayed the printing of ballots.
Wynn suggested primaries for redrawn seats could be held in November, with a general election before Congress convenes. Or there could be only a general election, presumably with any number of candidates affiliated with multiple parties running for each seat.