The Fair Maps Act: What It Does & Why We Need It
Robert Reives is the North Carolina House Democratic Leader and a Primary sponsor of HB437, the Fair Maps Act.
North Carolina has been the poster child of gerrymandering for decades, but we now have an opportunity to change that. A number of House Democrats have introduced HB437, the Fair Maps Act.
Here’s the problem that legislation would fix.
In North Carolina, legislators draw maps for legislative and congressional districts every decade after the census. New numbers on population allow us to determine where districts should grow or shrink. The process sounds mundane, but the implications are anything but. Whoever draws the maps can determine, to a great degree, the partisan makeup of our General Assembly in Raleigh and the delegation we send to Congress in Washington, D.C.
North Carolina is a battleground state — statewide races often hinge on a few percentage points and neither party is guaranteed to win. That is true of our legislative districts when you consider the number of votes both parties collect statewide.
Billy Corriher, writing for Facing South, highlights this:
In elections for the state House, Democrats got 49% of the votes but won only 42.5% of the seats, according to WRAL. More than three-quarters of the elections were landslides in which the winning margin was more than 20 percentage points. In state Senate races, Democrats got 49% of the vote and only 44% of the seats.
The way maps are drawn has a clear effect on who ends up serving in Raleigh. The majority party, now the GOP but years ago it was the Democrats, has the power to draw maps with stunning accuracy that almost guarantee a preferred outcome.
Why is that a problem, though?
For starters, it incentivizes polarization. When maps are drawn to ensure a particular outcome, it means the real battle is in the primaries. That leads to further division, since politicians have to appeal to the most partisan voters in their district and do not have to worry about independent and less partisan voters. It also leads to fewer fresh faces, since entrenched politicians rarely lose primaries.
If we want end gerrymandering, we must take the power to draw maps away from self-interested politicians.
How would HB437, the Fair Maps Act, accomplish that?
HB437 would go beyond creating law that another legislature could overturn — it would amend our state constitution. If passed, the bill would put before the voters a constitutional amendment in 2022 that would implement an independent redistricting commission. The legislation details who would be eligible to serve, minimizing special interest influence.
The law also mandates at least 20 public hearings across the state to allow citizens time to provide input and review all the plans for new districts.
Because it requires a vote of the people to change the state constitution, the changes would go into effect January 1, 2023. While unfortunate, it makes it more palatable for today’s legislators since the next Census is not until 2030 and its impact will be enduring.
Now is the time to finally reform the system and improve our politics. Reform will help us elect more legislators who will rise above partisanship to get things done for North Carolina.
