Our State Legislature is Stupid? How stupid do you ask? Stupid enough to throw the entire November election into flux. We may not be able to vote for local offices in November thanks to the actions of the state legislature.
First let's discuss how the normal redistricting process works in our state for the past 200 years. If the local county or city decides a redistricting is required due to population growth (normally after the census) or other factors then they appoint a independent commission to draw up voting districts for the next election. The districts are approved by the county election board before being sent to the state legislature to rubber-stamp in a bill. This process was in place for school district, county commissioner, and city/town council member district drawing.
After the 2010 election our state legislature took it upon themselves to pass bills to unilaterally alter local election districts without the consent of local officials nor any type of local request to do so. Of course the target of this was any county or city that had any type of entity where Democrats had a majority. This usually meant entities in suburban areas of North Carolina.
I don't need to say that our state legislature turned Republican in 2010 and proceeded to immediately gerrymander every election district in the state. We now have the most mocked and gerrymandered election map of any state in the nation. Our Congressional districts re-mapping was overturned recently which required a new Congressional primary election to be held on June 7th.
However let's get back to the local elections. One of the targets was the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the Wake County School Board. Both entities traditionally had a mix of moderate, common-sense Republicans and Democrats. Wake County is the home of Research Triangle Park and the state capital of Raleigh. The population is generally upper-middle class workers in RTP pharma and IT companies. These families support a strong public school system for their children.
However in recent Wake County School Board and County Commissioner elections the Republican party ran Tea Party candidates on the platform of closing all public schools. One was quoted as saying "All decent families should send their children to private Christian schools". Needless to say the Democrats (for the first time) landed up with all the seats on the Wake School Board and in the County Commissioner race.
What was the response of our state legislature? They unilaterally re-drew all the districts for the Wake school district and county commissioner races to gerrymander the lines to create a Republican board majority in the next local elections.
Of course this was taken to court. Let's see what the lead federal appeals judge has to say about this travesty -
"Rather than seeking proportional representation of the two main political parties, the evidence shows that the challenged plans under-populated Republican-leaning districts and over-populated Democratic-leaning districts in order to gerrymander Republican victories," Wynn wrote. "In other words, the challenged redistricting here subverts political fairness and proportional representation and sublimates partisan gamesmanship."
Let's see what the school board chairman has to say. He is a former high school principal. He was a registered Republican but now is the only independent on the school board.
School board Chairman Tom Benton said elections should be held under maps drawn after the 2010 census.
"We are all pleased and relieved that the districts as drawn have been ruled as unconstitutional. We urge our local delegation in the General Assembly to simply revert back to the original plan's districts and terms," Benton said in an email. "However, if they choose to seek a change, we would strongly encourage them to set a process that provides for local control of local elections and not the state General Assembly determining how Wake County elects its local Boards."
These districts drawn unilaterally by the state legislature for Wake County are just one of the obscene re-districting efforts to be turned over in federal court. Case by case every single re-districting by the Republican legislature has been ruled illegal. Normally by judges appointed by Republican presidents. Other cases involve Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville and many other cities & counties in our state.
The state legislature should simply rollback all of the districts to the 2010 boundaries. The Republican legislature needs to stop its absurd overreach in forcefully redistricting local elections. Allow local communities to define their own election districts - a method that has worked for over 200 years.
Of course, all of this puts our November local elections in flux. The districts must be re-drawn once again, approved by the legislature, and reviewed by the courts. The primaries will need to be held again. There is barely time for the primaries much less the general election before November after the necessary changes are made to the districts.
A couple of articles on this issue...
http://www.wral.com/appeals-court-tosses-district-maps-for-wake-commissioners-school-board/15821358/
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article87107697.html
First let's discuss how the normal redistricting process works in our state for the past 200 years. If the local county or city decides a redistricting is required due to population growth (normally after the census) or other factors then they appoint a independent commission to draw up voting districts for the next election. The districts are approved by the county election board before being sent to the state legislature to rubber-stamp in a bill. This process was in place for school district, county commissioner, and city/town council member district drawing.
After the 2010 election our state legislature took it upon themselves to pass bills to unilaterally alter local election districts without the consent of local officials nor any type of local request to do so. Of course the target of this was any county or city that had any type of entity where Democrats had a majority. This usually meant entities in suburban areas of North Carolina.
I don't need to say that our state legislature turned Republican in 2010 and proceeded to immediately gerrymander every election district in the state. We now have the most mocked and gerrymandered election map of any state in the nation. Our Congressional districts re-mapping was overturned recently which required a new Congressional primary election to be held on June 7th.
However let's get back to the local elections. One of the targets was the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the Wake County School Board. Both entities traditionally had a mix of moderate, common-sense Republicans and Democrats. Wake County is the home of Research Triangle Park and the state capital of Raleigh. The population is generally upper-middle class workers in RTP pharma and IT companies. These families support a strong public school system for their children.
However in recent Wake County School Board and County Commissioner elections the Republican party ran Tea Party candidates on the platform of closing all public schools. One was quoted as saying "All decent families should send their children to private Christian schools". Needless to say the Democrats (for the first time) landed up with all the seats on the Wake School Board and in the County Commissioner race.
What was the response of our state legislature? They unilaterally re-drew all the districts for the Wake school district and county commissioner races to gerrymander the lines to create a Republican board majority in the next local elections.
Of course this was taken to court. Let's see what the lead federal appeals judge has to say about this travesty -
"Rather than seeking proportional representation of the two main political parties, the evidence shows that the challenged plans under-populated Republican-leaning districts and over-populated Democratic-leaning districts in order to gerrymander Republican victories," Wynn wrote. "In other words, the challenged redistricting here subverts political fairness and proportional representation and sublimates partisan gamesmanship."
Let's see what the school board chairman has to say. He is a former high school principal. He was a registered Republican but now is the only independent on the school board.
School board Chairman Tom Benton said elections should be held under maps drawn after the 2010 census.
"We are all pleased and relieved that the districts as drawn have been ruled as unconstitutional. We urge our local delegation in the General Assembly to simply revert back to the original plan's districts and terms," Benton said in an email. "However, if they choose to seek a change, we would strongly encourage them to set a process that provides for local control of local elections and not the state General Assembly determining how Wake County elects its local Boards."
These districts drawn unilaterally by the state legislature for Wake County are just one of the obscene re-districting efforts to be turned over in federal court. Case by case every single re-districting by the Republican legislature has been ruled illegal. Normally by judges appointed by Republican presidents. Other cases involve Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville and many other cities & counties in our state.
The state legislature should simply rollback all of the districts to the 2010 boundaries. The Republican legislature needs to stop its absurd overreach in forcefully redistricting local elections. Allow local communities to define their own election districts - a method that has worked for over 200 years.
Of course, all of this puts our November local elections in flux. The districts must be re-drawn once again, approved by the legislature, and reviewed by the courts. The primaries will need to be held again. There is barely time for the primaries much less the general election before November after the necessary changes are made to the districts.
A couple of articles on this issue...
http://www.wral.com/appeals-court-tosses-district-maps-for-wake-commissioners-school-board/15821358/
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article87107697.html
