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Redistricting Lawsuit Filed

Today SCSJ filed a lawsuit on behalf of four statewide organizations and 27 individual voters, challenging the newly enacted redistricting plans for the North Carolina State House, State Senate and U.S. Congress. We allege that all three plans “are an intentional and cynical use of race that exceeds what is required to ensure fairness to previously disenfranchised racial minority voters.” In addition to violating the equal protection rights of North Carolina voters on the basis of race, the maps also unfairly create two classes of voters in the state. One class is those who live in split precincts and who will experience delays, confusion and a heightened risk of receiving the wrong ballot. Approximately two million voting age adults in the state (27% of the total voting age population) live in a split precinct. The other class is those voters who do not live in a split precinct and who will not face these problems. African-American voting age adults are 50% more likely than whites to live in a split precinct. The organizational plaintiffs are the North Carolina NAACP, Democracy North Carolina, the North Carolina League of Women Voters and the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute. We seek to overturn the legislature’s unconstitutional packing of black voters. The Complaint is attached below. For a musical explanation of what this case is about, check out this video from ProPublica: http://www.propublica.org/article/video-the-redistricting-song.

MEDIA ADVISORY: DC District Court Upholds Minority Voting Rights

September 21, 2011 Contact: Domenic Powell (704) 281 - 9911 omenic@southerncoalition.org https://southerncoalition.org DC District Court Upholds Minority Voting Rights Preserves Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, likely to influence case from Kinston, NC

DURHAM--Today the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 151-page opinion upholding the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County v. Holder case. The decision is a victory for civil rights advocates and communities of color fighting to have their voices heard in elections.

“The opinion includes an exhaustive review of the legislative record,” says Anita Earls, the Executive Director for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ). “The court’s opinion was very careful to lay out the legal standards for a facial challenge and then to apply them to this statute.”

The court concluded that Congress had before it sufficient evidence to justify renewing Section 5’s protections, which requires certain states to submit changes in their election processes to the federal government or the DC District Court for review in order to prevent laws or policies that make it harder for previously disenfranchised minority voters to vote or to participate in elections, also called “retrogression.” This part of the Voting Rights Act was renewed for 25 years in 2006.

The ruling today could go far towards upholding the Voting Rights Act in other local challenges to discriminatory election practices in the near future. With the most significance for North Carolina, today’s decision lays the groundwork for a similar result in Laroque v. Holder, filed by Kinston State Representative Stephen Laroque and pending before the same Judge, in which SCSJ is defending the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

The opinion can be read in full here. ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

Redistricting Event on C-span

The drawing of legislative district boundaries is arguably among the most self-interested and least transparent systems in American democracy. Every ten years redistricting authorities, usually state legislatures, redraw congressional and legislative lines in accordance with Census reapportionment and population shifts within states. Most state redistricting authorities are in the midst of their redistricting process, while others have already finished redrawing their state and congressional boundaries. A number of initiatives—from public mapping competitions to independent shadow commissions—have been launched to open up the process to the public during this round of redrawing district lines. On Monday, July 18, SCSJ Executive Director Anita Earls will be speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. about fair Congressional redistricting. The event will be covered live on C-SPAN.

Redistricting Handout

From Information on how to get involved in the fight for fair redistricting in NC. Information on how to get involved in the fight for…

Voter ID Handout

From Important information concerning the 2011 NC Voter ID bill. Important information concerning the 2011 NC Voter ID bill. From /wp-content/uploads/SCSJ_VoterID.pdf…

SCSJ's map of NC congressional districts

In response to the release of the proposed congressional maps, SCSJ has posted its own map for comparison. The SCSJ map is pictured below, and more data can be found in the "Press Release" section of this website. We believe this map is fair, compact and recognizes communities of interest.

media advisory: scsj posts fair redistricting maps as comparison for congressional maps

Anita Earls 919-323-3380 ext. 115 anita@southerncoalition.org www.southerncoalition.org SCSJ Posts Fair Redistricting Maps as Comparison for Congressional Maps DURHAM—Leading up to the expected release of the proposed congressional maps today, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice has posted on its website its own map of congressional districts for the State of North Carolina for comparison. The SCSJ illustrative plan was submitted to the General Assembly’s redistricting committee in May. “Our map is a ‘least change’ map for the most part. It preserves the cores of existing districts, avoids diluting the voting strength of minority voters, does not pair any incumbents and is likely to result in a congressional delegation with the same partisan balance as the current delegation,” said Anita Earls, executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “Our maps are fair, compact and recognize existing communities of interest.” SCSJ has been working with community groups and organizations across the state and around the country to participate in the redistricting process. More information can be found at their website for the Community Census and Redistricting Institute, redistrictinginstitute.org. ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

NC Governor vetoes Voter ID bill

Yesterday Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the Restore Confidence in Government Act, the North Carolina counterpart to a nationwide push by newly elected conservative legislatures to create similar bills across the country. Nineteen other states have considered Voter ID bills this year alone, many of which also place restrictions on early voting. Each bill has been introduced by Republicans. South Carolina passed a similar bill requiring photo identification to vote which was ultimately signed into law by Governor Nikki Haley despite calls for a veto. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicle statistics indicate that as many as 180,000 voters could be disenfranchised under the law. As of last month, there were no cases of voter fraud in South Carolina. Perdue ultimately had to choose between legislating against the relatively few and already identifiable cases of fraud or the thousands of voters who could find themselves unable to vote due to technicalities. In this case, Perdue sided with the voters. "North Carolinians who are eligible to vote have a constitutionally guaranteed right to cast their ballots, and no one should put up obstacles to citizens exercising that right," the governor said in a statement. "We must always be vigilant in protecting the integrity of our elections. But requiring every voter to present a government-issued photo ID is not the way to do it."

Media Advisory: The Alliance for Fair Redistricting and Minority Voting Rights Releases Illustrative Redistricting Maps

UPDATE: the testimony of Executive Director Anita Earls has been attached. See below for all of the associated documents with her testimony, including SCSJ maps. Domenic Powell (704) 281 9911 domenic@southerncoalition.org https://southerncoalition.org The Alliance for Fair Redistricting and Minority Voting Rights Releases Illustrative Redistricting Maps DURHAM—Testifying today at public hearings on the districts drawn by the Senate and House Redistricting committees, Anita Earls of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice is presenting maps drawn in a series of meetings over the past two months by a coalition of non-partisan organizations that illustrate more compact, more reasonable districts that are fair for all voters of the state. “The “Voting Rights Act” districts made public last Friday by the Redistricting Committees pack far more minorities together than are required under the Voting Rights Act,” said Anita Earls, Executive Director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “These districts will likely result in an overall plan that isolates minority communities for partisan advantage.” The Republicans released maps of the districts they identified as Voting Rights Act districts prior to releasing their overall plan, making it difficult to understand the maps in context. Moreover, the Voting Rights Act explicitly states that it does not require proportional representation. The alternative maps presented to the Committees today comply with the Voting Rights Act and have reasonably compact districts. There may be other options that AFRAM ultimately endorses, but these maps illustrate that it is possible to comply with the Voting Rights Act without packing black voters beyond what is necessary to elect their candidates of choice. The Voting Rights Act districts released by the Committees will likely ultimately harm the interests of black voters in this state. “We’re more sophisticated than just counting the number of black districts” said Earls. “We want electoral districts in which minority communities have a viable voice in government. We want a process that is fair to all voters.” ### The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in August, 2007 in Durham, North Carolina by a multi-disciplinary group, predominantly people of color, who believe that families and communities engaged in social justice struggles need a team of lawyers, social scientists, community organizers and media specialists to support them in their efforts to dismantle structural racism and oppression.

NC Voter ID Bill Moves Through House

On Tuesday, June 7 between approximately 5:45 – 6:00 p.m., the N.C. House of Representatives Appropriation committee passed the strict photo ID version of HB-351. Among other barriers to equal voting, this bill would require all voters to present a photo ID at the polls, which would be particularly disenfranchising to elderly, youth and minority voters. The bill passed on a party line vote of 50-28; of the four swing Democrats on the Appropriations committee, Rep. Tim Spear and Rep. Bill Owens voted against the bill with all the other Democrats on the committee. Rep. Jim Crawford and Rep. Bill Brisson were absent. This information is indicative of a successful veto from Gov. Bev Perdue. At 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, the Voter ID bill was brought before the House with no debate being allowed for the second reading. The bill passed second reading along party lines with a vote of 67-50. Speaker Tillis said that debate would be permitted for the third reading. All Democrats, including Hill, Crawford, Spear, Owens and Brisson, voted against the bill, preventing a veto-proof majority. Update: On Thursday, June 9, the Voter ID bill passed the NC House along party lines. It will now move to be heard in the Senate. Encourage Gov. Perdue to veto this bill when it reaches her desk. It's not too late to voice your opinion on this bill. Contact your local representative at 919.733.4111 and Gov. Bev Perdue at 800.662.7952.