NC lawmakers say fairness key in re-drawing districts

One of the most important reasons for conducting the U.S. Census is to ensure fair and equal representation among the many Congressional and General Assembly districts throughout the nation’s states.
Over the past decade, North Carolina was one of the fastest growing of the United States, which has left its 13 U.S. Congressional districts somewhat out of sorts. And, with regard to the General Assembly lines, Iredell County has had a jigsaw puzzle of a map since the lines were last drawn following the 2000 Census.
Drawing lines that did not favor one major political party over the other was one of the key campaign platform planks of many candidates who ran for and won seats in last year’s North Carolina General Assembly elections, which resulted in a Republican majority rule in both chambers in both the state Senate and House of Representatives.
Following the GOP victory, Rockingham County Sen. Phil Berger was voted by his colleagues as President Pro Tempore of the Senate.In an interview with the R&L, Berger said that while his immediate, hands-on role in the redistricting process is limited, his philosophy on the matter is clear.
“First of all, we have to follow the laws that are laid out,” said Berger, an Eden attorney. “And the law calls for fairness and equality.”
Beyond that, Berger said, it’s important to recognize boundaries that pre-date the redistricting map. “That mostly means to try to be as respectful as possible to municipality borders and county lines,” he said.
Berger said that there is not much room for subjectivity after that.“Once you comply with the laws and boundaries,” he said, “there may not be a lot of decisions that actually have to be made.”
But, Berger said, the final ingredient that he and others will be looking for is what he called “the look test.”
“You just shouldn’t have appendages that shoot out all over the place,” he said. “That’s not really a legal thing so much as it is a common sense thing.”
As examples, Berger mentioned both of the last two U.S. Congressional districts added to North Carolina: the 12th, which was added after the 1990 Census; and the 13th, which came after the 2000 Census.Berger said the 13th District is particularly disturbing to him because it was drawn in part by the seat’s current and only occupant, Rep. Brad Miller, who was a Democratic leader in the state senate when the lines for the district were drawn.
“We live in a country where voters should get to pick their legislators,” Berger said. “Not a place where legislators get to pick who’s going to get to vote for them.”
While Berger is more put off by what he views as partisan (if not personal) shenanigans in the 13th District, the 12th District is the stuff of line-drawing legend.
When North Carolina re-earned a 12th district 20 years ago (the state had a 12th on two other occasions in its history), the General Assembly had pre-determined that it would be one whose population was composed of a majority of African American and other minority residents. To that end, state legislators carved out a map that aimed to take in long stretches of rural and urban areas whose populations reflected such a composition. Its original form was so long and narrow that it was quickly identified around the nation as a brazen example of gerrymandering. The Wall Street Journal referred to the map as “political pornography.”
Nonetheless, the district was approved and Rep. Mel Watt, an African American attorney from Charlotte, won the seat (he is, indeed, the only occupant of the 12th District seat in its newest incarnation). The first 12th District map had a black population of nearly 65 percent. The map has been redrawn several times after court challenges and it currently has white plurality (47 percent) but still a minority majority.
One of the people who will likely be impacted by changes to U.S. Congressional lines is Rep. Virginia Foxx, whose 5th District takes in the northern two-thirds of Iredell County, including Statesville. She said she is hopeful state legislators will consider fairness for all of the state’s residents when drawing the district lines.
“Decennial redistricting is an important part of preserving the concept of each person's vote being of equal value,” Foxx said in an email to the R&L. “Carefully balancing the state’s growing population between the 13 congressional districts ensures equal representation in Washington for every North Carolinian.”
According to the census, an average congressional district should be reconfigured to have right at 733,499 people. Both of Iredell County’s districts are significantly under that figure. The 5th District has 693,414 people, nearly 41,000 people under the ideal district population. And the 10th District – which takes in the southern one-third of Iredell and whose seat is currently occupied by Rep. Patrick McHenry – has 689,468 people, according to the Census, which is more than 44,000 under the ideal population.Conversely, as a result of the more immediate growth in Charlotte, the 9th District has swelled to 852,377 residents and therefore has an over-population of 118,878 people.
Foxx says she is anxious to discover how things shake out in the General Assembly when all the proverbial pencils and erasers are put away.
“I'm looking forward to seeing what new district lines the North Carolina legislature approves and trust that the process will be fair and equitable.”