Nov 24 2007
Group Sues Over Gerrymandering
A group of Republican voters in North Carolina allege in a federal lawsuit that state House and Senate districts are unconstitutional and should be redrawn in time for the 2008 primaries.The suit alleges that several House and Senate districts do not meet the standard of the federal Voting Rights Act because they dilute minority voting power. The suit names about 20 counties where the districts they contend are unconstitutional are located.The suit comes on the heels of a state Supreme Court ruling in August that said the General Assembly improperly carved up Pender County in southeastern North Carolina between two House districts. The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, cites the Pender County ruling throughout.
This is not a problem in just North Carolina, but pretty much all the states. The power to draw legislative districts at the state and Federal level needs to be taken away from the political parties and put in the hands of independent commissions. Our democratic electoral process has been heavily damaged by political gerrymandering. Mel Watt’s Congressional District is a perfect example of this absurdity.
