September 5, 2019
“the Free Elections Clause of the North Carolina Constitution guarantees that all elections must be conducted freely and honestly to ascertain, fairly and truthfully, the will of the People and that this is a fundamental right of North Carolina citizens, a compelling governmental interest, and a cornerstone of our democratic form of government.”
These are the words of the three-judge panel in North Carolina’s state trial court. Following Pennsylvania’s lead in League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Pennsylvania, which invalidated that state’s congressional map – The North Carolina court gave legislative leaders until September 17th to redraw the state legislative map in accordance with its decision. You can read the opinion here.
Here are some initial takeaways:
- The court actually invalidated the map on several bases: the free election, the equal protection and freedom of speech and assembly clauses of the North Carolina Constitution.
- election results data may not be used in the drawing of the new legislative districts.
- legislators must conduct the entire remedial map drawing process in full public view.
- “the invalidated 2017 districts may not be used as a starting point for drawing new districts, and no effort may be made to preserve the cores of invalidated 2017 districts.”
