The state House and Senate redistricting committees will take public comments Friday morning on criteria to be used for the next set of legislative election maps. The committees plan to vote on criteria Aug. 10.
Legislative leaders unveiled that schedule this afternoon, two days after a three-judge federal panel ordered new legislative maps completed by Sept. 1.
The House and Senate redistricting committees already had been scheduled to meet at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the state Legislative Office Building in Raleigh. Committee chairmen had not issued agenda details before this afternoon’s announcement.
While the Friday meeting represents the first opportunity for direct public comment in the latest round of legislative redistricting, Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, and Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, noted in a news release that their respective redistricting committees already have opened the process to public comment in other forms. “The chairs re-emphasized that public comment is already being accepted via the General Assembly’s website and U.S. mail,” according to the release.
“While we had originally planned to set aside additional time to receive comments from North Carolinians and hold a statewide public hearing on criteria across the state, we have said all along that we will comply with the federal court’s order,” said Lewis and Hise. “Moving forward with this process over the next week will help us comply with the court’s deadline.”
Lewis’ and Hise’s committees will reconvene at 10 a.m. Aug. 10 “to adopt the criteria under which legislative maps will be drawn,” according to the release.
New state House and Senate election maps will help North Carolina comply with the federal panel’s latest order in Covington v. North Carolina. Earlier this summer, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the three-judge panel’s 2016 ruling in that case. It struck down 28 legislative districts as examples of illegal racial gerrymandering.