Citizens Turn Out To Oppose Gerrymandering

 

Part of the crowd at the hearing in Hickory
on Tuesday

A big crowd turned out in Hickory early this week to voice their opposition to gerrymandering. Sen. Ralph Hise, chair of the Redistricting Committee in the Senate, gave speakers only two minutes to express themselves, and there were many people wanting to express themselves, so the hearing went on for two hours. According to the Hickory Daily Record, only one speaker expressed approval for partisan gerrymandering while everyone else said they hate what's about to happen. 

Of course, Ralph Hise and the rest of them don't care what you think, though they went through the motions of listening because the law demands it. The Hickory hearing on Monday was one of only three public hearings the two redistricting committees scheduled. So what difference do the citizens make? Hise admitted that the maps are already being drawn. The last public hearing happened last night in Raleigh, with the biggest crowd of people yet who are fed up with partisan gerrymandering. That hearing went on for three hours.

In April, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled partisan gerrymandering permissible under the state constitution, reversing the previous Democratic court. Chief Justice Paul Newby and Justice Phil Berger Jr. and the rest of the five partisan justices ... just trying to be helpful.

“These hearings are nothing more than shams,” Watauga County resident Ben Henderson said. “Holding these hearings with such little notice so that voters have no time to prepare, in only three locations in the state so that citizens must travel great distances to have their voices heard and at a time of day when most working people are unable to attend, is an affront to every citizen of this state.”