After a North Carolina Court Struck Down Dozens of Gerrymandered Legislative Districts drawn by Republicans last month, GOP Lawmakers were given the Opportunity to Pass a New Set of Replacement Maps. These new Districts are Still Unacceptably Flawed. Not Only did Republican Lawmakers Fail to follow the Instructions laid out by the Court, their Maps preserve many Elements of the Old Gerrymanders, which the Court Ruled had Illegally Violated the Rights of Democratic Voters.
To bring these Problems to the Court’s Attention, and to Propose Better Alternatives, Daily Kos Elections' Stephen Wolf and North Carolina Attorney J. Denton Adams filed an Amicus Brief with the Court that asks the Judges to Reject the GOP’s Maps and Adopt the Nonpartisan Maps they Created.
The Court instructed Republicans to take "Reasonable" Efforts to Improve the Compactness of their Districts, many of which Sprawled needlessly, and to Reduce the Number of Split Precincts, also called Voting Tabulation Districts (VTDs). Map-Makers were also Permitted but Not Required to consider Municipal Borders, so as to Avoid Splitting Cities, and to Avoid placing Multiple Incumbents in the Same District.
Furthermore, State Supreme Court Precedent requires the Preservation of what Cartographers call "Communities of Interest." There’s No one way to define the Term, but it could be a Town, a Neighborhood, a County, a Geographic Region, or any other Demographic Grouping where Residents Share Ties of any sort.
The Court also Explicitly Prohibited the use of Partisan Data to Draw the New Maps, meaning Republicans were Not Permitted to take Election Results into Account. However, the Judges did Not Bar the use of such Data in Evaluating the Partisan Distortion of the New Maps.
So the Brief Maps Calculated the Results of the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Elections for every District in both the GOP’s Maps and the Brief's Maps, as well as the Results of All Down Ballot Statewide Elections from 2012 to 2018.
Then used this Data to Calculate Three Common Measures that show how much a Map Unfairly Favors a Party, using the Mean-Median Difference; the Partisan Asymmetry Metric; and the Efficiency Gap.
The Brief found all Three Tests indicate a Substantial Unfair Advantage for Republicans under their Maps that could Block Democrats from Winning a Majority of Seats in 2020 even if they Win a Majority of Votes. In fact, that very Outcome Transpired last year, when Democratic Candidates for the Legislature Won 51% of All Votes cast Statewide, but the Illegally Gerrymandered Maps returned Republican Majorities in both Chambers.
By contrast, the Proposal Maps more Faithfully followed the Court's Criteria, would more likely to ensure that the Party that Wins the Popular Vote also Wins a Majority of Seats.
CLICK HERE to View the Maps.
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