Public Discussion Period Underway For NC Redistricting Process

A legislative Joint Committee on Redistricting heard public comments Tuesday on how North Carolina lawmakers should redraw the state's political boundaries for the next decade.

The process of redrawing the maps hasn't yet begun. That will start when the 2020 census data is delivered to state officials Thursday. 

Right now, the discussion is about how that data will be used.

The committee this week issued their proposed criteria on a two-page document focusing on ten bullet-pointed items.

The courts variously rejected GOP maps drawn with 2010 data after determining they were gerrymandered along partisan or racial lines. The new criteria say neither racial nor partisan data will be used this time around.

Some of the criteria are short on details. For example, the guidelines suggest that voting tabulation districts — which are small polling areas such as precincts and wards — should be split only when necessary. But they don't spell out in any way why or how it would be done.   

Although a public comment meeting to get feedback on the process is over, written submissions are still being taken on the General Assembly's web page.

The committee will vote on adopting the criteria on Thursday.