Judges in North Carolina on Tuesday said that despite declaring the state's electoral map to be unconstitutionally gerrymandered for partisan reasons, there wasn't enough time for the map to be redrawn before midterm elections in November.
"We further find that imposing a new schedule for North Carolina's congressional elections would, at this late juncture, unduly interfere with the State's electoral machinery and likely confuse voters and depress turnout," Judges James Wynn Jr., William Osteen Jr. and W. Earl Britt wrote in their order Tuesday.
Last week, the same panel of judges in the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina said that a 2016 congressional redistricting plan was made with the express purpose to "ensure Republican candidates would prevail in the vast majority of the State's congressional districts." The court said the Republican-created plan violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution.
Republicans involved in drafting the 2016 map had created it with the intent of making 10 Republican House seats and three Democratic ones, according to the court.
Those numbers match the state's current representation in Congress — though statewide, vote totals were far more even between parties in the 2016 election. Almost 2.4 million people voted for President Trump, while 2.2 million voted for Hillary Clinton.
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04.29.2025