August 18, 2021
The House and Senate Redistricting Committees convened today to discuss plans for the public to weigh in on the redistricting process across the state.
Co-chairs of the House and Senate Redistricting Committees have repeatedly called for an open and transparent process for redrawing legislative district maps this year, with opportunities for the public to provide feedback and suggestions along the way. Committee co-chairs introduced a proposed schedule for public hearings in 10 counties across the state, including Caldwell, Durham, Forsyth, Jackson, Mecklenburg, Nash, New Hanover, Pasquotank, Pitt, and Robeson. The hearing schedule would begin the week of September 6th in Caldwell County and end the week of September 27th in New Hanover and Robeson Counties to get feedback before initial maps are drawn. Several Democrats were critical of the proposal and suggested adding more counties to the schedule in rural areas of the state.
Rep. Pricey Harrison (D) also noted that her district in Guilford County was left off the list despite being one of the most populated areas in the state. Rep. Harrison proposed an alternative public hearing schedule, recommending 13 statewide public hearings with one in each of the state’s current congressional districts. Her proposal also suggests hosting two rounds of public hearings, with one in the coming weeks before initial maps are drafted and one after maps are drawn. Rep. Harrison put forth several other recommendations for consideration to make the process more open to the public, including having more resources available on the NCGA website, allowing more opportunities for written and oral public comment, and ensuring quality video and audio broadcast for public meetings.
The committee did not act on either proposal, but will meet again next week to vote on a final schedule proposed by the committee co-chairs. Members of the public are still encouraged to provide comments on House, Senate, and Congressional district plans through an online portal on the NCGA’s website.
With census data released last week, experts have begun analyzing and establishing possible county clusters based on North Carolina’s updated population numbers. Determining county clusters for the NC House and for the NC Senate is the first step in the redistricting process. County clusters are used in the state legislative districts to reduce splitting counties and to maintain population balance. More background information on county clusters can be found here. Although many county clusters are fixed using a court-ordered algorithm, the legislature will have to decide between various clustering options in some parts of the state due to double-bunking of incumbents and to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Two Duke University mathematicians and other redistricting experts recently provided an analysis of all possible county clusterings for NC House and Senate districts in an interesting report that can be found here.