State House and Senate election maps cleared additional committees today, though the Senate map faced a close split in the House Redistricting Committee. That map heads next to the House floor, while the full Senate will consider the House election map.
The House committee approved the Senate map, 18-15, after an afternoon meeting that lasted just a few minutes and featured no debate. Earlier in the morning, the Senate Redistricting Committee had endorsed the House map, 10-1, also with no debate.
The only drama linked to the meetings arose as Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, co-chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, attempted to take a voice vote on the Senate plan.
“Mr. Chairman! Mr. Chairman!” Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, interjected as Dollar spoke. After a brief pause, Dollar proceeded to count committee votes by a show of hands. The full House Redistricting Committee has 41 members, with a 26-15 partisan split favoring Republicans. Eight missing members led to a closer vote than legislative leaders might have expected.
Eight legislative Republicans also were absent Monday, when the House approved its own map, 65-47. Two Republicans, Larry Pittman and Michael Speciale, joined most Democrats in voting against that map. Only one Democrat, William Brisson, voted for the House map.
The Senate approved its own map, 31-15, with three Republican “no” votes. No Senate Democrats supported the Senate map.
For decades, legislators typically have allowed the House and Senate to draw their own election maps with little input from the opposite chamber. If the full House and Senate adopt the respective chambers’ maps, those maps will head back to the three-judge federal panel overseeing the Covington v. North Carolina case. Maps are due to that court by Friday.