Agenda - 10-05-2021; 6-a - Presentation of Final Report from the BOCC Elections Advisory Group (BEAG)

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98 l The Original Districting Plan for Electing North Carolina's Representatives to the U.S. House, 1991 (following the 1990 census) 5 6 1 11 12 4 2 3 9 7 :F:< 2. The Second Districting Plan, 1992 12 5 1 11 6 4 2 3 9 3 1 al districts and only the voters of each shaped districts(see Figure 1,page 11). the advice described earlier, commonly district vote for the seat representing This common advice came into ques- given for complying with Section 2 of the that area—single-member districts. By tion—and the creation of the oddly Voting Rights Act. creating districts with predominantly shaped districts slowed down dramati- That districting plan was submitted African-American populations,the court cally—when another North Carolina for preclearance,and the justice Depart- can give African-Americans a much bet- districting case came to the U.S.Supreme ment disapproved the plan. It would ter opportunity to elect candidates of Court in the mid-1990s.That case,Shaw have been possible,the justice Depart- their own choosing than they would have v.Reno,39 looked at the intersection of the ment said, to create two districts with with an at-large election system. requirements of Section 2 of the Voting African-American majorities, and the Because of the outcomes in these Rights Act and the Equal Protection failure to do was a violation of Section 2. cases,advice given to units of local gov- Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. So in 1992 the General Assembly ernment typically ran like this:If you can adopted a second plan,creating two dis- draw a district boundary for creating a What happened in the Shaw case? tricts with African-American majorities, district with an African-American ma- In 1991, following the national census districts 1 and 12, both with very odd jority, do so. Then draw the other dis- of 1990,the General Assembly drew the shapes (see Map 2).The justice Depart- tricts around that district to fit. If you districts for electing the state's twelve ment approved the new plan,but several can draw two districts with African- members of the U.S. House of Repre- white citizens sued, claiming that the American majorities, do so, and draw sentatives, creating 11 that had white General Assembly had made an uncon- the remaining districts to fit. Following majorities and 1, district 1,that had an stitutional use of race in drawing the this advice,cities,counties, and school African-American majority(see Map 1). lines.In Shaw v. Reno the U.S. Supreme systems sometimes came up with oddly In so doing,the legislature was applying Court held that the use of race in draw- I2 POPULAR GOVERNMENT SPRING 200I