Leading Off
●North Carolina: Last month, Republican legislators passed new state legislative districts after their previous maps were struck down in state court for illegal gerrymandering, but their new districts are still highly problematic. To highlight these issues, Daily Kos Elections' Stephen Wolf submitted an amicus brief to the court that objects to the GOP's new maps and proposes nonpartisan alternatives.
Campaign ActionThese alternate districts better fulfill the court's nonpartisan criteria of improving compactness, reducing the number of divided voting precincts, reducing the number of divided municipalities, and other requirements of state and federal law. Wolf's analysis indicates these districts would lead to fairer elections than the GOP's remedial maps if adopted.
Additionally, Daily Kos Elections has unveiled a huge trove of political and demographic data for the state of North Carolina, along with an explanation of how you can use it to create precinct-level maps or calculate the results for hypothetical districts you've drawn in the free Dave's Redistricting App. The data set includes statewide election results from 2004 through 2018 broken down by 2010 census voting district; 2010 racial demographics; and 2016 primary turnout by race and party. This data can be used to evaluate the fairness of whatever maps are ultimately adopted, or any hypothetical alternatives.