Judges: No special elections for redrawn NC districts

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Judges: No special elections for redrawn NC districts

By GARY D. ROBERTSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH, N.C. — Jul 31, 2017, 8:37 PM ET

Federal judges on Monday rejected a request by North Carolina voters who sued over General Assembly district boundaries to hold special elections next March in new districts once lines are redrawn to eliminate illegal racial gerrymandering.

The unanimous order by the three-judge panel means the next legislative elections won't occur until November 2018, as regularly scheduled. But the judges did tell Republican lawmakers who control the legislature that they'll have to approve new House and Senate boundaries by this September — at least two months earlier than GOP leaders sought.

The three judges ordered lawmakers to draw the new maps by Sept. 1 but wrote that they would extend the deadline to Sept. 15 if lawmakers make enough progress on new boundaries in the next few weeks. Such movement would include disclosing remedial plans and creating a method by which the public and other legislators can make comments and present evidence.

The panel ruled in August 2016 that 28 state House and Senate districts were illegally drawn based on racial considerations. After Republicans took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices upheld the lower court decision to throw out those boundaries. Democrats hope the new boundaries could help them erode the GOP's veto-proof majorities in both legislative chambers.

-snip-

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/judges-special-elections-redrawn-nc-districts-48957775

[CRK7376]

1. Sucks for my state

But there is hope in a few months for a better playing field! Now if we could just get Virginia Foxx out of office.

[malaise]

2. Makes no sense

There needs to be immediate punishment - there should be special elections.

[SoCalNative]

3. They should just unseat

all of thoses elected in the contested districts and let the seats stay vacant until November 2018.

[malaise]

4. How would that affect their constituents? n/t

[SoCalNative]

6. If they're all republicans

then who cares?

[malaise]

7. LOL

[Lee-Lee]

5. Probably for the best actually

In this state we haven't figured out yet how to turn Democrats out well enough in non Presidnetal year regular elections, much less off year special elections. We stand a better shot at gains with redrawn districts in the regally 2018 cycle than we would with the same redrawn districts in a special election cycle.

Best timing would have been for it to drop right in the Presidential election year. But a midterm is probably better for Dem turnout than a special court ordered off cycle election would be, especially since a special election would give the cons plenty of nonsense to tell about liberal courts throwing away the will of the people and their votes blah blah blah and mobilizing their base to turn out for the special election to "fight back" against the liberal courts or similar nonsense.