Breaking: NC State Court throws out State Legislature redistricting plans

[brooklynite]

New plans must be prepared for 2020

Link to tweet

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

Right fugging NOW!!

[hlthe2b]

2. Dan's one of those Lawyers I've been following--was likewise involved in the census question cases..

Good news!

[mcar]

3. ...

[FakeNoose]

4. Congratulations to NC Democrats

Oh I know ... it was a bipartisan effort.



Edited to add this:
I've used this NC state map to illustrate how gerrymandering works. It's a classic example of what happened over the last 25+ years. I'm so happy that I can now retire this illustration.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. Thanks. ❤ nt

[erronis]

8. Wow! A great graphic. So much more powerful that a lot of words.

[cstanleytech]

11. Boy they gerrymandered the hell out of that. To bad they cannot be brought up on criminal charges.

[FakeNoose]

12. Yep - the same thing happened in Pennsylvania

But I thought the North Carolina map illustrated it a little better. We got our gerrymandered map struck down in PA last year, just in time for the midterm election.

Just consider this - in 2016 more North Carolinians voted D, but Chump won the state anyway. That's how gerrymandering works. Repukes will cheat any way they can.

[Falcata]

15. How do you gerrymander a national election?

[cstanleytech]

18. One way is to make sure the gerrymandered districts you have handicapped is to

provide inadequate assistance at the polling sites such as making sure they do not enough voting machines or the ones they are provided have issues be it simple tech issues that maintenance could fix to "accidental" flaws that flip the votes.

[33taw]

19. That sounds like voter suppression. Gerrymandering impacts the House of Representatives.

The presidential election is basically who gets the most votes receives the electoral votes from a state. Am I missing something?

[cstanleytech]

20. Some of the states mandate that the candidate that gets the most statewide votes

gets the electoral votes so if you reduce the ability to vote of certain districts that lean towards one party then you can potentially influence which candidate wins the state.

[stopdiggin]

25. but the original statement was Ds got more votes

"Just consider this - in 2016 more North Carolinians voted D, but Chump won the state anyway. That's how gerrymandering works."

which I think means Hillary takes the electoral votes. Gerrymander works (unfortunately all too well) at the Representative level.

[cstanleytech]

28. I was responding to the question of how gerrymandering can be used to influence the vote though.

For NC it would depend on the Repugnants in the state making sure that the Democratic leaning districts were provided inadequate funding and or equipment in order to reduce the number of people that might vote for Hillary.

[FBaggins]

21. Can't retire that one I'm afraid

The decision impacts the state legislative races. The House districts aren’t affected from what I’ve read.

[cstanleytech]

29. Doesn't the state government in many states setup the districts for federal elections?

[diva77]

5. K&R!!!

[FBaggins]

7. What's the composition of the next court up?

And was the decision based on the NC constitution?

[dsc]

14. 6 to 1 Democrat at the Supreme Court

and yes, state constitution.

[Evolve Dammit]

9. Time to restore sanity to these rigged "districts."

[Hulk]

10. Seems like a used up cliche'.....but let's "take back the country"

And this time it has meaning....taking back our democracy from these rats and treasonous traitors that are trying to steal control by manipulating the votes and elections. This is some serious shit!

[stopdiggin]

27. all for taking the country back

but gerrymander has been around since 1812 (before either of the current political parties came into existence). The practice has been approved by the courts (although recent and most egregious iterations are starting to draw attention) and has been employed by both parties. A handful of states have turned over drawing district maps to various third party (neutral/bi-partisan?) entities to preclude corruption .. but in most instances the only way to correct the problem is to prevail in the statehouse. "To the winners, the spoils.'

[OldBaldy1701E]

13. Great news from my home state!

I am glad to hear this. It might actually make a difference in how things proceed in the coming election. It might not. Anything that makes the process more equitable is all right with me!

(and, a shout out to my fellow Pack members... when I first saw that title, I only saw 'NC State"...GOPACK!!)

[sprinkleeninow]

16. Woo to the hoo!

[GO HEELS!. 😁]

[MyMission]

17. NC resident here

Great news, but...
They were instructed to redraw gerrymandered districts a while back, which they did. If I recall, judge said if it wasn't satisfactory, they would need to be done again. So that's what's happening here.

We've got other voter suppression going on. Just renewed my driver's license. Had to show birth certificate and SS card or documents, and additional proof of address to get a star on my license. They say it's for ease of travel, but will also be tied to voting. Those without a star may not be able to vote, or will need to cast paper/provisional ballot that will then need to be verified, and could get lost!

Still, the gerrymandering ruling is great news. And a giant step in the right direction.

[yellowdogintexas]

23. I have not heard anything indicating lack of a star

on your DL will prevent you being able to vote. It just means your renewal date hasn't come up. And I live in Texas.
The star is for airline travel outside your state, supposedly to make it easier for TSA

[stopdiggin]

26. Correct. This is "Real ID"

Federal law passed in 2005. And it has to do with TSA and travel (particularly by air). A more secure (or verifiable) form of identification brought in after 9-11.

[gademocrat7]

22. Great news!

[Owl]

24. Wow fabulous!