“It is a 131-page mashup of a bill, cynically named, ‘Disaster Relief.’ I can only guess the disaster referred to was their shellacking by North Carolina voters!”
Tag: gerrymandering
Showing 1-21 of 21 results
Letter: Gerrymandering is cheating
“So where is the outrage and press coverage when the North Carolina legislature implements a plan to dilute the votes and essentially silence the voices of nearly half its population?”
Letter: A threat to our voting rights
“Our courts and not local politicians need to make the decisions as to whether submitted district voting maps are fair.”
Letter: Hoping Supreme Court requires fair district maps
“It is wrong for politicians of either party to create maps that serve themselves rather than their constituents.”
Letter: General Assembly needs to work together
“First, he noted that the maps drawn for North Carolina followed previous court orders. That in no way should imply that the maps were drawn fairly.”
Letter: We need fair voting maps here and everywhere
“The Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will end partisan gerrymandering and ensure more fair, transparent and nonpartisan maps.”
Q&A with Chief District Court Judge J. Calvin Hill
In June 1995, a young lawyer named J. Calvin Hill parked his car in downtown Asheville and walked toward the Buncombe County Courthouse. Hill, who had been working for several years as a defense attorney in eastern North Carolina, had been recruited by the Buncombe public defender’s office. As he strolled to his job interview […]
Letter: Protect democracy with voting reforms
“In order to protect our democracy, we must address these issues and go even further to allocate $4 billion in federal funding for states and mandate the implementation of reforms nationwide …”
From CPP: Judges block NC congressional elections with current maps
A three-judge panel issued an injunction late Monday blocking use of the current North Carolina congressional district map in the 2020 election. Although not yet compelling the “coequal branch of government” to draw new maps, judges noted that legislators could proceed to do that on their own and thus avoid any disruption to the election schedule.
Letter: Reclaim our rights as voters
“Let your state senator and representative, plus Tim Moore, speaker of the House, and Phil Berger, president pro tem of the Senate, know you support fair redistricts (vote411.org provides contact info).”
Letter: Look south for right-leaning havens
“As a New York-born, 25-year resident of Asheville, I would like to tell Mr. Gilmore that if he moved here because of his disgust with ‘left-leaning politicians,’ he didn’t move far enough south.”
Man of the hour: The rise of Mark Meadows
“Oddly enough, the future of the Republican stranglehold on North Carolina and the nation can be glimpsed through Meadows and the 11th District.”
News briefs: Mayor Esther Manheimer to hold gerrymandering press conference
In conjunction with Buncombe County voters and members of Raleigh-based lobbying group Common Cause North Carolina, the mayor will discuss how gerrymandering splits Asheville voters and advocate for nonpartisan districting reform. The press conference takes place at Pack Square Park on Tuesday, March 26, at 10:30 a.m.
Letter: Make our voices heard about gerrymandering
“If we desire democratic rights for ourselves and our children, this is the very moment that we must shed our tendency of quiet civility and shout, collectively, loud enough that the court in Washington is aware that American citizens will accept nothing short of the legacy the Continental Congress intended for us after blood was shed for this nation’s freedom.”
Letter: End rule of NC GOP miscreants
“The thuggish behavior of the North Carolina GOP has been a disaster, making us a national laughingstock, and there needs to be some kind of reckoning, and soon.”
Carving it up
ASHEVILLE, NC
Mayor Manheimer, Asheville citizens call for fair redistricting
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer held a press conference Thursday, May 11, to highlight House Bill 200, which seeks to end gerrymandering on a statewide level. Asheville residents affiliated with Common Cause NC, a nonprofit organization based out of Raleigh, also spoke against gerrymandering within congressional districts and the need to support the proposed legislation.
Letter: Starvation wages, urban renewal and gerrymandering
“Indeed, policies are still in place actively working against the formation of new communities — zoning rules that forbid local shops that could serve as neighborhood hubs, lot size restrictions that might work for the suburbs, but which result in a farcically low population density in a city; a lack of sidewalks that means you may have to take your life in your hands just to go check up on a neighbor.”
Stay in the lines
Asheville
Letter writer: Act now on gerrymandering
‘[Gerrymandering] encourages a lack of cooperation and increases the partisan divide because incumbents have almost guaranteed their re-election based on partisan district lines. Millions of votes across the nation go unheard. Power is ripped away from the people and placed even more into the hands of politicians.”
NYTimes’ look at redistricting in U.S. notes results for GOP in North Carolina
North Carolina politics remains in the national spotlight: New York Times guest columnist Sam Wang analyzes “The Great Gerrymander of 2012” — and includes a look at the power of GOP redistricting in the state.