‘Do NC voters have a right to fair elections?’ A new redistricting lawsuit says yes
A group of North Carolina voters sued the state and top Republican leaders on Wednesday over new electoral maps which they argue violate voters’ constitutional right to fair elections.
Unlike other recent challenges to Republican redistricting plans, which were filed in federal courts, this lawsuit hinges on a provision of the state Constitution that guarantees “frequent” and “free” elections.
The plaintiffs, who are represented by former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr, argue that this provision should be interpreted to mean that elections must be “fair” as well.
“It all comes down to this question: do North Carolina voters have a right to fair elections under our state constitution?“ Orr said in a press release on Wednesday. “If the answer to that question is ‘yes,’ then any time politicians of either party apportion voters to predetermine winners and losers, it’s a clear violation of North Carolinians’ state constitutional rights,” he said in a press release on Wednesday.
The plaintiffs say this is the first lawsuit in North Carolina history to make this particular legal argument as it relates to redistricting.
The suit challenges all of the new maps passed by Republicans late last year, including districts for Congress, the state House and the state Senate.
The complaint does not request a judgment by a certain date. Early voting for the primary election begins on Feb. 15, meaning unless a court acts very fast, this lawsuit likely won’t affect the election on March 5.
At a press conference Wednesday, Orr said he hoped to get the case on an expedited schedule, but didn’t know if it would be possible to get a decision before the November election.
Is this a gerrymandering case?
Challenges to the 2024 maps have all, up until now, focused on arguing that the new districts weaken the voting power of racial minorities. In the past, plaintiffs have won cases against maps just for showing that they were drawn to help one party – but that’s no longer a valid legal challenge.
Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over claims of partisan gerrymandering. That ruling seemingly left racial gerrymandering as the only valid legal challenge available.
Wednesday’s lawsuit sounds similar to a partisan gerrymandering case in that it argues that voters were put in or removed from districts “to assure, to the extent possible, a political victory in the 2024 election for candidates of one political party, in this case the Republican Party.”
However, this lawsuit also asks the court to declare a new right in the state Constitution – one that guarantees fair elections.
“Without ‘fair’ elections, the framework of our government would rest not on principle and will of the people, but instead, on partisan politics, exercised not by political parties or particular entities, but by the heavy hand of government itself,” the complaint says.
This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 10:36 AM with the headline "‘Do NC voters have a right to fair elections?’ A new redistricting lawsuit says yes."
