GREENSBORO, N.C. (CN) — Voting rights groups sued the North Carolina Board of Elections in federal court Tuesday claiming that the three new election maps drawn by GOP lawmakers in October is a racial gerrymander.
The suit is the third that claims new voting districts violate the Voting Rights Act.
The most comprehensive lawsuit over the maps so far, the North Carolina NAACP, along with NC Common Cause and eight Black residents say that the General Assembly targeted Black voting precincts to hinder Black voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice.
In the suit, the plaintiffs note the extreme lack of transparency in the drawing of the election maps. When the 2023 North Carolina budget passed, it contained a provision that removed redistricting records from public record, reversing four decades of tradition.
In previous years, election maps were publicly drawn on live streams and available for public viewing; the new election maps currently in place were drawn with very little opportunity for public input.
Despite concerns raised by some lawmakers that the maps would violate the Voting Rights Act and multiple constitutional amendments, the maps passed and will be used in the 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections unless the courts interfere.
Members of the General Assembly have said they drew this year’s maps without factoring in racial data. But the plaintiffs say legislators who participated in drawing the maps are aware of racial divides in certain areas, and that the General Assembly “admitted to using certain voter data” and “did not disclose any methods or processes for ensuring districts would not be redrawn with racial predominance.”
The plaintiffs claim the new congressional, state Senate and House election maps violate the 14th and 15th amendments and Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black voters, which is consistent with North Carolina’s history of racial gerrymandering.
“Discriminatory election laws in North Carolina have largely been and continue to be successful in suppressing Black votes,” the plaintiffs say in the lawsuit. “Statewide, the candidates of choice of Black voters have had less electoral success, especially in the last decade.”
They want a three-judge panel to hear the case.
The lawsuit follows two other suits against General Assembly leaders and the Board of Elections. This month, 18 Black and Latino voters sued claiming the new congressional map disregards traditional districting principles to eliminate existing minority districts. The plaintiffs in the first suit, filed in late November, claim the senate map dilutes Black voters’ electoral strength. This was the only suit so far that has filed a motion to expedite, citing electoral deadline, although that motion has been denied.
The new congressional election map has shifted North Carolina from a partisan split of 7-7 congressional seats to giving Republicans a high probability of winning 10 out of the 14 seats. State Senate and House maps drawn in 2023 also make it exceedingly difficult for Democrats to secure a majority.
Dr. Michael Bitzer, an expert on North Carolina redistricting and gerrymandering and the chair of politics at Catawba College, said it is likely the March primaries and the 2024 general election will proceed with the current maps.
“There is always a possibility that that court could say about one or all of them that you have to go back to the drawing board and try again,” said Bitzer. “I would probably be more surprised if that happens. We have had past elections under maps that were subsequently declared unconstitutional. That’s generally where the courts tend to err on, let the process play itself out as the trial is proceeding.”
Candidate filing in North Carolina closed Dec. 15, and the Board of Elections has already determined ballot order in advance of upcoming March primaries.
“We’re moving into territory where candidates have filed, we now have the ballots, early in the year we’ll start sending out absentee requests for these ballots,” Bitzer said. “And the court would have to move fairly quickly if they’re going to put a pause on the use of any of these maps.”
Bitzer said it is not unlikely that the Supreme Court will weigh on the issue of racial gerrymandering and the impact of the Voting Rights Act on politics, which could affect these cases.
“We just have to wait and see how the process unfolds,” he said.
If the cases conclude before the primary, the legislature could possibly be called back into session to redraw the maps.
The North Carolina primary election is March 5.
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