Wake County election maps unconstitutional

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled 2-1 July 1 new Wake County election maps for Board of Commissioners and Board of Education elections are unconstitutional, citing the Equal Protection Clause of the federal and state constitutions.

The court upheld the plaintiff’s claim that the maps violate the “one person, one vote” guarantees made law by the Clause.

The ruling has major implications for November’s elections, as three commissioner spots and all nine school board seats are up for voting.

“We see no reason why the November 2016 elections should proceed under the unconstitutional plans,” said the decision, which has prompted the Wake County Board of Elections to undergo a review process.

Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, said he feels the state has reached “uncharted territory.”

“Generally, lawmakers have not tampered with local government redistricting until recently,” Phillips said. “The lawsuit and its ruling are unprecedented for our state.”

After redrawing its voting districts to account for the 2010 census, the then-predominantly Republican Board of Education was replaced with a Democratic majority in 2011.

Two years later, in 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly stepped in and switched around the districts’ set-up, changing the format from nine single-member districts to seven districts and two “super districts.” Each of the super districts were shaped like donuts, one of which consisted of the county’s rural areas and the other of urban areas.

The bill also restricted the board from altering its own voting districts until at least 2021.

A group of voters disputed the changes in court, claiming the new districts were passed out of political gamesmanship. They demonstrated that the number of voters in the two regional districts varied greatly, with the urban donut containing 10 percent more voters than the rural donut.

Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge James Dever approved the maps, before the appeals court ruled July 1 that he had incorrectly disregarded the testimony made by the plaintiffs.

The Republican majority in the General Assembly denied assertions of political gamesmanship, justifying the maps as efforts to increase voter turnout and representation.

Judge James Wynn said in his majority opinion, “Rather than seeking proportional representation of the two main political parties, the evidence shows that the challenged plans under-populated Republican-leaning districts and over-populated Democratic-leaning districts in order to gerrymander Republican victories.”

Phillips said he thinks the elections will definitely go on, but circumstances are still up in the air.

“The court is going to have to provide guidance before we know what’s next,” Phillips said. “It’s hard to imagine that there will not be an election for either board this cycle, but there is uncertainty right now as to when the next election will take place and under what circumstances.”

Steven Greene, professor of political science at North Carolina State University, said he is sure the elections will take place.

“There will be some form of election, but using which districts is the big question,” Greene said. “My guess is that the judge will have the election take place under old, existing districts.”

Phillips hopes the lawsuit will result in the state reforming the handling of voting districts.

“North Carolina needs to pass comprehensive redistricting reform which bars the state legislature from imposing redistricting on local government,” Phillips said. “All redistricting conducted anywhere in North Carolina should remove politics from the process.”

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