Redistricting is starting in North Carolina. Here’s how you can get involved
This story is being updated as more details are announced about locations.
Although state lawmakers have quashed any hopes that anti-gerrymandering activists had of politicians giving up their control of political map making in North Carolina this decade, they have promised similar levels of transparency as in 2019.
That year, a court order had forced Republican lawmakers to engage in never-before-seen levels of transparency when redrawing maps that the court had just ruled unconstitutional. But even with that order long since moot, GOP leaders have said they want to voluntarily bring back many of the same rules for transparency in this year’s post-Census round of redistricting.
The first step starts Sept. 8, with the first of over a dozen public hearings around the state. The rest will be held through the end of this month. The initial hearing Sept. 8 is in Lenoir, at Caldwell Community College at 6 p.m.
That area in the western part of the state is home to Republican Rep. Destin Hall, who has taken over as head of redistricting in the N.C. House of Representatives. Hall replaced David Lewis, the Harnett County Republican who led last decade’s redistricting efforts but then resigned from office in 2020 after pleading guilty to federal crimes stemming from a scheme to take his campaign donors’ money for personal use.
On the Senate side, the top redistricting and election law officials are Republican Sens. Ralph Hise, Paul Newton and Warren Daniel.
How can the public get involved?
All of the public hearings are scheduled on weekdays, many in the middle of the afternoon, which could preclude some people from attending. But even for those who can’t make it to a hearing, there are other ways to participate in the process.
Interested people who can’t make any of the public hearings this month — or who do, but also also want to weigh in again — can leave a written comment for lawmakers to consider, via the legislature’s website.
Lawmakers also decided to let any member of the public make an appointment to come in and draw proposed maps of their own on the redistricting computer at the General Assembly, with staff available to help navigate the software.
The hearings themselves are open to anyone who wants to attend. People who want to speak have to sign up beforehand, either online or in person. The online signup page will close four hours before each meeting, lawmakers said, and the in-person signups will begin an hour before each hearing.
The online signup form can be found on the left side of the legislative website homepage at www.ncleg.gov.
To set up a map-drawing appointment, leave written comments, view audio and video recordings of past meetings or find other information and data on the process, go to www.ncleg.gov/Redistricting.
Finally, anyone who wants can also sign up for email notices about the House and Senate redistricting committees’ meetings. Those notices should give updates about the public hearings, as well as any meetings at the Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh.
Here are the details we know so far about the public hearings. Specific locations on college campuses have yet to be announced for many, but those details will be sent in future email notices to people who sign up for them.
Time, date, location of NC redistricting hearings
Wednesday, Sept. 8
▪ Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute: Broyhill Center, 1913 Hickory Blvd., Lenoir, at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 14
▪ Forsyth Technical Community College: Robert L. Strickland Center auditorium, 1615 Miller St., Winston Salem, at 4 p.m.
▪ Elizabeth City State University, K.E. White Center, 1704 Weeksville Rd., Elizabeth City, at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 15
▪ Durham Technical Community College: Main Campus Building 5, 1613 Lawson St., Durham, at 6 p.m.
▪ Nash Community College: Brown Auditorium, 522 N. Old Carriage Road, Rocky Mount, at 5 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 16
▪ Alamance Community College: Patterson Auditorium, 1247 Jimmie Kerr Rd., Graham, at 5 p.m.
▪ Pitt Community College: Craig F. Goess Student Center, 169 Bulldog Run, Winterville, at 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 21
▪ Western Carolina University: Health & Human Services Building, 3971 Little Savannah Rd., Cullowhee, at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 22
▪ Central Piedmont Community College: Harris Conference Center, 3216 CPCC Harris Campus Dr., Charlotte, at 3 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 23
▪ Mitchell Community College, Iredell County campus: Shearer Hall, 500 W. Broad St., Statesville, at 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 28
▪ UNC-Pembroke, in Robeson County, 4 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 29
▪ UNC-Wilmington, in New Hanover County, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 30
▪ Fayetteville Technical Community College, in Cumberland County, 6 p.m.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published September 7, 2021, 10:32 AM.
