A new round of redistricting is underway in North Carolina. Legislators will soon impose new congressional and legislative voting maps on our state. Learn more, get engaged, and make your voice heard with the links below.
QUICK LINKS: See new districts proposed by the legislature | Public hearings | What’s happening with redistricting in North Carolina? | Sign up for email updates
This latest redistricting process has been a failure of transparency by legislative leaders. For weeks, a handful of legislators have drawn new voting maps behind closed doors – keeping the public in the dark.
Now, those legislators have unveiled proposed voting districts:
Congressional (CST-4) – view map | bill page
NC Senate – view map | bill page
NC House – view map | bill page
Disclaimer: This information is provided for public education only, and the analysis here reflects that generated by the DRA program and does not constitute an opinion on or endorsement of this map by Common Cause.
On short notice, legislative leaders held just three public hearings on redistricting the week of Sept. 25. The overwhelming majority of speakers at these hearings demanded a better, more transparent redistricting process and voting maps that are free from gerrymandering.
You can watch recordings of the public hearings below. Add your voice through this public comment portal.
VIDEO: Redistricting hearing in Raleigh (Sept. 27)
VIDEO: Redistricting hearing in Hickory (Sept. 26)
VIDEO: Redistricting hearing in Elizabeth City (Sept. 25)
If you weren’t able to attend these public hearings, you can submit your comments on redistricting to the North Carolina legislature with this public comment portal here.
In the fall of 2023, the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature will draw new congressional and legislative voting districts that will impact people across our state. Why is that and how did we get here?
In 2021, the legislature imposed new voting districts in North Carolina that were extreme partisan gerrymanders. Common Cause NC and other plaintiffs challenged those illegal gerrymanders in state court.
In a historic victory for the people of our state, we won our case as the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in early 2022 that those gerrymandered districts violated the constitutional rights of voters.
As a result, new and fairer voting maps were adopted for the 2022 election. With this landmark decision, the court set a clear precedent based on our state’s Constitution that partisan gerrymandering is illegal in North Carolina.
However, extremist politicians in the legislature refused to accept that pro-democracy ruling.
And so, when a new Republican majority took control of the North Carolina Supreme Court at the start of 2023, Republican legislators urged the justices to throw out the people’s victory against gerrymandering.
In a shameful reversal this spring, the new Republican majority on the state Supreme Court sided with Republican legislators over the constitutional rights of North Carolina voters, radically breaking from legal norms and shattering settled law, overturning the ban on partisan gerrymandering.
As a result, the Republican-controlled legislature says it will impose new congressional and legislative voting districts this fall.
We need your help. Together, we must demand that the legislature adopts fair voting maps that are completely free from gerrymandering. Let’s speak out for districts that respect the freedom of all voters to have a voice in choosing our representatives.
SPEAK OUT: You can submit your comments on redistricting to the North Carolina legislature with this public comment portal here.
Sept. 25, 2023: More than 50 North Carolina groups send letter to legislators calling for open and transparent redistricting process as lawmakers get ready to consider new voting maps – read more
Sign up for email updates on redistricting in North Carolina from Common Cause
What is gerrymandering?
Every 10 years, North Carolina’s congressional and legislative voting districts are redrawn to account for population changes shown in the latest U.S. census. That’s called redistricting.
But when politicians abuse redistricting and manipulate our voting maps to unfairly cling to their power, that’s called gerrymandering. For decades, politicians have gerrymandered our voting maps in North Carolina.
Gerrymandering threatens our democracy, and especially hurts Black and brown voters in North Carolina, as politicians split up communities, divide neighbors and undermine our freedom to choose our representatives.
We must stand up, speak out and demand fair voting maps for all people, completely free from gerrymandering.
We must defeat any attempts at racist or partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina.
We must break the cycle of partisan legislators trying to rig our maps. To achieve an end to gerrymandering, we need to enact lasting reform. We should permanently take redistricting power out of the hands of politicians and entrust it with an impartial citizens commission for any map drawing moving forward, making sure districts are created with robust public input and full transparency, completely free from gerrymandering.