Speakers Decry Mapmaking Process In Statewide Public Hearings

An overflow crowd showed up at Guilford Technical Community College to discuss just-released drafts of the state's political maps as part of a statewide public hearing. Many speakers were more concerned about the process than the actual boundaries.

There were complaints by speakers that they were given too little time to consider the new maps and weren't given data to understand them. Adding to their frustrations was the poor quality of the Internet broadcast of the hearings, which rendered the first hour almost inaudible.

AnnMarie Clark of Lexington says she wants the process to be greatly simplified.

“I think the only thing that should be considered are numbers of people - period,” she says. “Every other piece of data should be out of this process.”

Rev. Willard Bass of Winston-Salem says he was impressed by how many people expressed that the maps were unfair. He says he'd like to see the power to draw them turned over to the judicial system.

“I think the judges should make the decision - I don't think this legislature can do it at this point,” he says. “They've already had two shots and this is what they've come up with.”

Lawmakers are currently redrawing the districts for the state House and Senate after the previous versions from 2011 were determined by a federal court to be racially gerrymandered. They are under a Sept. 1 deadline to get them done.