Legislature To Hear From Public As Redistricting Deadline Looms

The public will have a chance to provide state lawmakers with their thoughts on redistricting Friday.

This public comment period comes before an important redistricting meeting at the statehouse. And it comes with less than a month left to finish the maps.

Lawmakers are under a federal court order to redraw them by Sept. 1. That deadline came after a three-judge panel determined that more than two dozen of the state's legislative boundaries were racially gerrymandered.

The legislature has reconvened to handle some unfinished business from last session. Redistricting meetings are scheduled in both the House and Senate through next week, and legislators will come back to Raleigh Aug. 18 for a session to consider new maps.

The hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Raleigh. Public input is also being accepted online and by mail. Submission information is available from the General Assembly's web site.

North Carolinians will vote in the new districts next year.