Judges’ Ruling on Election Map Plunges North Carolina Politics Into Disarray

It's both disturbing and amusing to this proud New Englander, when I see all the Tea Party types, remain silent (ie complicit) in the face of Republican stripping voters of representation, when the Boston Tea Party was about rebelling against their lack of representation. Pitiful!

It's apparently necessary to point out to folks who want to get rid of Congressional districts altogether that their purpose is partly to give rural folks a voice; without them, it's majority rules only. And majorities live in cities. And Them there is just chock FULL of lib'ruls, immygrants, and You Know Whos. But hey, why not. Let's also abolish individual sports teams of all kinds; you can just cheer for your State team.

Your perception is way off base NYTs. The court ruling set aside the evil intent of bigots and White Nationalists. A government against the people needs to be torn down brick by brick. This isn’t chaos. It is justice...a long needed end to state sponsored disenfranchisement. Sweep out the White Nationalist and end all favor they once enjoyed with rejoinder, “You just got Black Listed by real patriots who love the ideals of a nation by and for the people. Stop valuing illegitimate and corrupt institutions more than the reasoned will of the people. You’re not the arbitrator of this conflict. Your job is to enlighten and protect the people’s right to truth and respect in this nation.

Its NC... a net federal welfare state. Absolutely nothing is lost if their elections are delayed. in fact, given their abysmal financial history, they are far better off delaying it rather than continuing with what has not worked.

I say eliminate State and Federal "Congressional" districts altogether. Each state gets so many Federal and State represertatives and they get elected statewide and at large so that they have to appeal to all of the voters in the state not some narrow, manipulated subset of voters. I am ashamed that my state is represented in the House by Mark Meadows, but I am powerless to do anything about it because I don't live in his district, even though his district surrounds where I live.

I'm somewhat suspicious here. Did the courts define what they believe are the fair districts? Did they define what is unfair in the districts? In order for the state to fix the problem, it must be further defined - 'unfair to democrats' is insufficient to act on. Is it that the map wasn't drawn based on census? Is it too 'squiggly?' Or, does Raleigh not have the outsized voice it believes it should have. Are blacks isolated in one district where that district's outcomes are likely known, or are they spread out so that there is no black majority? Should districts ever be created so that their is a black majority (like GA did when dems were in charge in the 90s), or should they be drawn so that there are equal blacks and whites per district (tough as blacks only make up 15% of the US population)? I know the answers to many of these questions, but if you fail to ask them, this article is nothing but biased reporting.

As a North Carolinian I would rather vote once in a fairly representative district vote than elect partisan hacks going into the 2020 census and redistricting. NOW IS THE TIME TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED. Seems like an ideal time to draw districts with a computer algoritm that has 3 parameters population, existing governing boundaries and geography within thoseboundaries. Then have a single ranked vote election with instant runoff. Limit campaign 6 weeks prior to vote. Who's with me? Vote once for any candidates you want and only 6 weeks political posts . IT IS DOABLE. https://johnnywunder.info/mywiki/index.php/Judges_Ruling_on_Election_Map...

Hard to have sympathy in this situation, as GOP politicians openly boasted about their intent to Gerrymander so that they so totally controlled the state despite having only a modest lead in overall voting. It's high time for the courts to take firm control in returning to a fair election system, including reasonably drawn, competitive districts. Short term disruptions are therefore justified for the long term benefit of democracy in the state!

There is a simple solution to this problem. Order that the congressional election must use new districts. If they are not redrawn the election is invalid and all current NC congressmen are no longer in Congress. Replacement must use the revised districts. I bet the GOP will suddenly find a way to redraw the districts in time.

The headline to this article is utterly misleading. It is continued Republican intransigence in the face of court orders that has created any "disarray" in the NC electoral process. The NYT all but buries the fact that the NC GOP has had THREE chances to comply with a court order that made it crystal clear that Republican-drawn districts intentionally sought to deny voting rights to black folks. The article talks ad nauseum about the chaos purportedly created by the ruling, without communicating that any other ruling would have rewarded NC GOP behavior that is both lawless and racist. It takes serious chutzpah for NC Republicans to complain about a situation that was entirely of their own making--and the NYT essentially lets them get away with it. The US media are trying to pretend the state of politics in the US is normal. It isn't. At all.

If the Republicans in North Carolina stopped trying to push the gerrymandering envelope in its maps, the redistricting would be done in a day, with the available databases and a laptop. But instead the Republicans are seeking the most gerrymandering they can get away with this election cycle, and are stalling in hopes of an illegal map. “In hopes of illegal [fill in this blank]” is a huge part of Republican electoral strategy.

Will fairness begin the end of Republicans, who have in recent decades resorted to pure lies and corruption? Their champion is every mother's nightmare of a kid with no character at all. Crude, prone to violence, a serial adulterer, a liar who does not know what truth really is, Trump has revealed the seamy side of America. I will remember his champions and followers and collaborators.

The proper response for NC is to ignore the judge’s ruling and do nothing.

NC has held three elections -2012, 2014, 2016-with House maps which the court decided in January were unconstitutional. The redrawn maps have now also been declared unconstitutional. Why on earth should voters be disenfranchised in yet another election? The voters demand fair maps. MAKE THEM. Anything else?

Politicians are wolves, and we're the hen house. Our government is corrupt at its core. How pathetically sad it is to realize this.

No big deal - North Carolina Politics Have Always Been In Disarray.

This is gerrymandering on top of gerrymandering. Twenty-eight state legislative districts in NC were found to be unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. So some of the people who drew these partisan gerrymandered maps for the Congressional districts shouldn't even have been there. Where is the accountability?

The court did not plunge the election into disarray. The arrogant and intentionally unfair and unconstitutional actions of the state Republicans did. And now we get to watch their Chicken Little routine.

When Republicans think they can't win on votes, they resort to changing the rules. This is how they game the system. SO pathetic!

In an effort to gain and maintain control at all costs, the Republicans in North Carolina are following suit with the national Republicans in their assault on our fragile democracy. Fueled by narcissism and racism, the self-centered acts of NC Republicans mirror those of the national party. Their sons and daughters will suffer the ill effects of their short-sighted deeds. See RevolutionOfReason.com

A court ruling on the Injustice of rampant gerrymandering did not, NYT, "plunge North Carolina into disarray", but rather the GOP's disenfranchising efforts, the consequences of which are now catching up with the state. Every voter, of any party, should be in open rebellion when it's so-called representatives strip citizens of their representative rights! That's the happy disarray I'm so looking for in November:. Vote the crafty scoundrels out!

For those of us who are Democrats living in eastern North Carolina we know only too well that for statewide and federal elections are votes do not count. In short, we do not live in a representative democracy here. Why? Because, as Jane Mayer brilliantly and persuasively documented in her 2016 book, "Dark Money - The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right," Art Pope, a wealthy chain store owner and prominent Republican, quoted in this article, earlier in this decade allied himself and his wealth with the Koch brothers and their wealth to gerrymander North Carolina into a totally Republican controlled state via their very successful REDMAP plan for mapping voter districts. What is now happening in North Carolina is a direct result of that undertaking - so much so that I know that, sadly, except for local offices, and unless the courts rule otherwise, my vote in the upcoming primary elections will be meaningless. So, even though about half the voters in this state are Democrats and half Republicans, thanks in great part to the efforts of Mr. Pope and the Koch brothers, candidates for state and federal offices are now chosen by Republican leaders in this state, not by the voters. Of course this violates the U.S. Constitution.

Perhaps we have a solution here to gerrymandering and money-influence in elections. All Districts are redrawn by an independent non-partisan group one month before elections and should be geographically defensible. Candidates would have to appeal to a broader audiences than just donors because they would not know who their consitutencies were until right before the election.

A question--is the problem the manner in which the congressional districts are drawn or the manner in which the districts from which state legislators are drawn? The problem with the rules likely won't change if the same people rewrite the rules.

Oh, no! Whatever will the great state of North Carolina do, if it has to re-draw its congressional maps fairly?! Seems it’s been so long since they’ve done that, they’re flummoxed as to how to go about it.

If they know about the disproportion, can't the votes be adjusted to compensate, as opposed to redrawing the districts? For instance, Republican votes only count four-fifths of a Democratic vote, depending on the district. Still better yet, let the judges pick whoever they know the people want. Democracy needs to be a little more controlled if we want it to work the way some wanted it to.

The rationale for the court ruling, which seems to intrude upon Art I, Sec 4 (1) of the U.S. Constitution, is unclear to me. According to the constitution, the U.S. Congress, but only the Congress, has the power to overrule the authority of state legislatures to "prescribe the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives." Nothing requires there even to be congressional districts --- the entire congressional delegation could be "at large," if the state legislature so prescribed. But if NC chooses to keep its delegations serving districts, the district lines should be drawn by a non-partisan commission whose work must be ratified by the legislature.

Better headline, maybe, would be "NC Republicans prove again they can't be trusted with a map"

NC needs to hurry up and get before the Supreme Court. They will undoubtedly let them do as they wish Now that Roberts has declared racism is over in America the former Confederate states can do as they wish. Welcome back the poll tax soon!

Yay! Small victories. Hope this sticks.

I think it was David Brooks who recently pointed out that the US Constitution does not specify that there need be specific congressional districts at all, only that the number of congress members for each state is allotted on the basis of population. North Carolina could try the experiment of taking the entire existing slate of congressional primary winners and offering them as at-large candidates.