Charting a Path Back to Representational Government

RALEIGH  -- Gov. Roy Cooper, trying to put pressure on lawmakers to redraw state House and Senate election maps within the next two weeks, said he would call for a 14-day special session of the legislature.

The session Cooper plans to call would run simultaneously with the ongoing regular session, which is due to end some time this summer. He said such a concurrent session is rare but not unprecedented.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a lower court ruling that found 28 legislative districts to be illegal racial gerrymanders that diluted the overall influence of black voters.... [Anne Blythe reporting in the Raleigh News & Observer]

In response to the news above, Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress NC Action, issued the following statement:

“This illegitimately elected General Assembly led by Phil Berger and Tim Moore has held power for the better part of a decade, thanks to unconstitutional electoral maps that intentionally dilute the voices of minority voters. During that time, lawmakers have passed countless unconstitutional laws that have cost our state millions of dollars in legal fees and made North Carolina a global pariah, thanks to discriminatory actions such as HB2 and the monster voter suppression law. Letting an illegitimate General Assembly continue passing unconstitutional laws for even one more day is too long. These maps should be redrawn immediately, and the state should hold special elections as soon as possible. Furthermore, it is long past time for North Carolina to move to an independent redistricting system, to make sure this gerrymandering end-run around democracy can never happen again.”