RALEIGH, N.C. -- RepresentUs, a nonpartisan movement of independents, progressives, and conservatives working to end government corruption and fix our broken democracy, has partnered with the Princeton Gerrymandering Project to analyze congressional and legislative maps this redistricting cycle.
The Redistricting Report Card is an innovative tool that identifies gerrymandering as it happens, and will help both the public and elected officials clearly understand the process and outcome of maps being considered in North Carolina. It uses objective analytics to assign overall grades to proposed maps, as well as specific marks for partisan fairness, competitiveness, and geographic features.
The Redistricting Report Card released an analysis of three maps drawn by North Carolina legislators this week:
- A map drawn by State Sen. Ben Clark received an overall “A” grade, including an "A" for partisan fairness, indicating it doesn’t give an unfair advantage to either party.
- A map drawn by State Sen. Ralph Hise received an overall “C” grade.
- State Sen. Warren Daniel’s map received an overall “F” grade, indicating that this map is an example of extreme partisan gerrymandering.
North Carolina’s redistricting process has been plagued by a lack of transparency. Legislators are technically drawing maps in a public forum, but there is no clarity around when official proposals will come out, where they will come from, or how long there will be between getting out of committee and being passed into law.
“The Redistricting Report Card is the most powerful tool we have to identify gerrymandering as it happens in North Carolina. As the process continues, we strongly encourage the public, reporters, and elected officials to keep an eye on maps being released, review our analysis, and help us push for a more transparent process and fairer districts,” said James Pearce, RepresentUs North Carolina State Director.
RepresentUs will continue to serve as an anti-gerrymandering watchdog throughout the redistricting process, and call out attempts at partisan gerrymandering that disenfranchises North Carolina voters.
Contact: James Pearce, RepresentUs State Director, jpearce@represent.us, (919) 345-3119