New lines: Republican lawmakers redraw congressional district lines

Lawmakers in Raleigh have redrawn voting maps for the 1st and 12th congressional districts.

A federal court judge ruled recently that the two districts were drawn using race as a chief factor and therefore needed to be redrawn so as to not violate federal voting laws.

Gov. Pat McCrory called a special session of the General Assembly today to allow senators and representatives to vote on the changes. With the state primary coming up in March, legislators had little time to redraw the lines.

Republicans disagreed with the ruling but created new boundary lines this week to ensure they meet the court's deadline for a new map by Friday.

Despite the work of lawmakers to come up with the new districts the Supreme Court could still step in and rule that the old districts were acceptable.

Published in Editorials on February 18, 2016 11:15 AM