North State Journal
(August 1, 2017)
GREENSBORO — A U.S. federal court has decided that North Carolina will not need to hold a special election prior to November 2018 for legislative voting districts that the court deemed were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
On July 31, the same three-judge panel that struck down the legislative districts last year, ordered state lawmakers to redraw the maps by September 1, 2017 with a little wiggle room.
The order read that if the Republican-led General Assembly is transparent in drawing the remedial districts on or before August 21, the court will extend the deadline to September 15, 2017.
On July 26, members of the Joint Redistricting Committee convened for their first meeting, outlining a crude framework for how the map-drawing effort would proceed. And with lawmakers returning for session this week, political insiders say that the maps will be complete ahead of that contingency deadline. Plaintiffs will then have 15 days to object to the new maps.
