Most counties in NC are not the right size (~210,000 people) to have a single state senate district. So the first order of business for the NC Senate this morning is figuring out which counties to group together, or not, in the new maps. So many potential maps! #ncpol#ncga
It can be confusing so here's an example: As you can see by the numbers, Wake and Meck are grouped w/ a nearby county (Granville, Iredell) to get 6 senate seats each.
That's because Wake and Meck are too big for 5 seats, but not quite big enough for 6, so that evens the numbers
NC redistricting committee is now fighting over the decision not to allow racial data in the drawing of maps.
Democrats have been asking for Black voter data, saying the maps will be unconstitutional if they ignore that data. But Republicans say it's not necessary. #ncpol#ncga
Here is @_lucillesherman's story from earlier this year when the legislature made that decision to not use racial data when drawing the maps, despite Democratic claims that doing so will run afoul of the Voting Rights Act #ncpol#ncganewsobserver.com/article2534345…
NC House redistricting meeting now starting.
Chairman @DestinHall says the final maps should be done by end of October: "That's going to be our goal, to get these things done by the end of the month" #ncpol#ncga
There was just a very long, high-pitched noise that sounded a lot like a 30-second long fart and all the lawmakers cracked up while waiting for it to stop interrupting the committee presentation. (In case you thought redistricting was entirely boring) #ncpol#ncga
Back to boring tweets: Like the Senate, the House will be using potential county groupings ID'd in that Duke research, as starting points for their maps. Find those here: ncleg.gov/documentsites/…#ncpol#ncga
A quick takeaway: Raleigh and Charlotte are growing their dominance, post 2020 Census. Wake goes from 11 to 13 seats and Meck goes from 12 to 13. AKA a combined 22% of all NC House seats.
No other county is even half as influential (although Guilford gets 6 seats) #ncpol#ncga
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Pretty slow start to NC’s 2021 redistricting process. But a handful of GOP lawmakers are in the room (at least in the House) and starting to plug away at some possible maps. #ncpol#ncga
On the right Rep. Jay Adams (R-Catawba) is working as House Speaker Moore’s chief of staff looks on. In the middle, redistricting chairman Destin Hall is at work.
Thread: This could become an issue in NC too. Latinos here have good arguments for more representation.
1 in 10 North Carolinians is Latino, but only 1 of 170 #ncpol lawmakers is. They are also more responsible than any other group for NC’s new 14th seat in Congress this decade.
That last point is hard to overstate. From 2010 to 2020, North Carolina exploded: 1 million new people! We’re getting more power in national politics because of it.
And it’s because NC added twice as many new Hispanic residents as new white and black residents *combined* #ncpol
We identified some of the main places in NC where lawmakers could draw new maps to either help (or hurt) Latino political power. #ncpol#ncganewsobserver.com/news/politics-…
35 years ago, SCOTUS ruled that racial bias in jury selection can influence a trial. But North Carolina has never recognized that ruling. #ncpol
That could change Wednesday, when the NC Supreme Court hears a case similar to this one I wrote about in 2020: newsobserver.com/article2444312…
After that SCOTUS ruling, North Carolina had a statewide training called Top Gun II (it was the '90s) for prosecutors on how to strike Black people from juries without mentioning race--like having a haircut that might show "resistance to authority" #ncpolaclu.org/legal-document…
You know what? It worked
"Even judges in heavily conservative Alabama have overturned about 80 convictions due to Batson challenges, said David Weiss, an attorney for the Durham-based Center for Death Penalty Litigation. But zero in North Carolina" #ncpolnewsobserver.com/article2444312…
Pretty stunning findings about people's authoritarian tendencies in today's @TheMeredithPoll results
11% said they don't support any form of protest, even peaceful marches--and more than 1 in 5 said they oppose protests at government buildings specifically #ncpol
The poll also found that nearly 75% of people support what sounds like a type of moral relativism in which there is no right or wrong. But nearly two-thirds also want a strong leader who will crush some undefined "evil" in society
They say if you look up to the stars on a clear night, you can still see Prince's guitar suspended in the sky, from when he threw it at the end of his solo
Solos on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, ranked:
3. Clapton (the original) 2. Prince 1. Paul Gilbert is a god among men
NC Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell is set to start speaking to a House committee any moment now (audio and video at ncleg.gov/LegislativeCal…)
She's there to give a recap of 2020 and a look ahead to the near future #ncpol#ncga
Yesterday the @NCSBE voted to recommend moving back a bunch of elections this year, as well as the 2022 primaries, due to problems the federal government is having with the Census (since we need to redistrict everything, ASAP). @_lucysherman wrote about it newsobserver.com/news/politics-…