Officials debate proposed redistricting maps’ clarity, fairness

While the state’s proposed redistricting maps await approval from the U.S. Justice Department, legislators and election officials continue to debate the maps’ clarity and fairness.

Legislators submitted their redistricting plans to both the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. District Court for federal approval on Sept. 2. The Justice Department has 60 days to rule on the district maps.

The N.C. General Assembly must redraw voting districts each decade after federal census results are released in order to maintain proportional districts.

New districts for N.C. senators and representatives — as well as the state’s 13 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives — were enacted at the end of July.

The districts created by a Republican majority split several precincts, a source of contention for legislators and election officials who say the divisions could cause confusion for voters.

“The problem with the maps are that they split precincts far in excess of what we have experienced in the past,” said Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange.

“The divisions are partisan, race-based and most likely not in compliance with federal or state law.”

The state’s NAACP chapter has already vowed to file a lawsuit against the district maps. Leaders say the maps pack minorities into fewer districts, diluting their voting strength.

Joseph Fedrowitz, an elections administrator for the Durham County Board of Elections, said the new precinct divisions might cause voters to question if the redistricting process was done fairly and accurately.

“Splits are being done on small, small streets,” he said. “Folks that literally live across the street from one another may be voting for completely different people.

“They’re going to start asking questions and may be confused.”

But Jim White, chairman of the Orange County Board of Elections and former chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, said officials should not be troubled by the additional ballot types — which are common in Orange County.

“It’s true that the chance of getting the wrong ballot increases with additional split precincts, but ideally we can handle this,” he said.

Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, said there may be a few more split precincts than in the past, but he doesn’t expect them to cause much of a problem.

“It seems to me that we should have the technology readily at hand to be able to determine who should be voting for who,” he said.

“It’s obviously going to be work any time you go through the redistricting process. Our job is to make sure that it’s one person, one vote.

“That meant that this time we needed to adjust some of the lines.”