Orange County NC Website
73 <br /> P O P U L A R G O V E R N M E N T COVER ARTICLE <br /> Redistricting for <br /> P�0� <br /> Local Governments after <br /> the 2000 Census so o'13 , <br /> Robert P. Joyce ith the results of the 2000 cen- Cb eo <br /> sus in hand, more than one <br /> hundred North Carolina cities, ' <br /> a <br /> counties,and school systems may face the <br /> politically loaded challenge of redrawing <br /> their election districts to comply with the <br /> one-person/one-vote requirement of the <br /> U.S.Constitution. Z <br /> y- FF R A N � ^� Through the 1990s the North Caro- <br /> r,l �..m r lina General Assembly drew and redrew Must you consider <br /> NAF* redistricting at all? <br /> � �'� the state's twelve congressional election <br /> districts four times, as successful chal- Whether a jurisdiction must consider <br /> I ti " K. lenges under the Voting Rights Act of redistricting turns on the sort of electoral <br /> 9� 7 ow " ' ' s 1965 and the Equal Protection Clause of system it uses. <br /> the U.S. Constitution occurred one after <br /> R` C.Y another.No city,county,or school sys- Do you elect all your <br /> tem wants that to be its fate in the first members at large? <br /> Tw FEW.1 decade of the 2000s. If all the members of the city council,the <br /> 010ith The responsibility for drawing new county commission,or the board of edu- <br /> ' districts for elections to Congress and to cation are elected at large—that is, if <br /> the state House of Representatives and everyone in the city, the county, or the MIN <br /> Senate lies with the General Assembly. school system votes for all the mem- <br /> A~ <br /> em- <br /> 3 <br /> ' , Y A..�4. NEW, The responsibility for drawing new dis- bers—then you do not have to redistrict. <br /> MADMIN tricts for local government rests with the There are no districts to redraw. You <br /> All city councils,the county commissions, need not finish reading this article.If you <br /> ' off—Sp,Yv S T and the school boards. elect board members from districts, <br /> Compared with the state legislature, however,you should go on to the next <br /> ' MS'.I�I IIS <br /> # mi �141d ? . local governments may receive less at- question. , <br /> tention when they face redistricting,but <br /> Tj <br /> the questions of law and the practical <br /> rt ®■o. '' problems will be just as challenging. Yr��a 16% <br /> _ <br /> %' + <br /> ,r3 , i p,r This article describes those questions , <br />■ and problems,and gives some answers. rar � <br /> LPU <br /> r „ 1 } <br /> 4'J19 171 <br /> The author is an Institute of Government +I. <br /> faculty member who specializes in election <br /> law.Contact him at joyce@iogmail.iog. i - '% 4, r <br /> unc.edu. _ r �#•a "� .�. <br /> x 4_0 <br /> Yo .. <br /> ., a .'iwr -. ieYl kiirl r* -Y■■r - <br /> ' FII■ <br /> .,� �f■IY�YY`}. Ixrt <br /> H� <br /> :ill AL * 'Y; �f <br /> Yk <br /> ,lot# 4 Y .Jkyi - TR 4. Y14 <br /> 2 POPULAR GOVERNMENT SPRING 200I _ _ } „f _ <br />