Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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8 UCW NOVEMBER 10-16, 2021 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM After much debate, public scrutiny and controversy, the General Assem- bly passed redistricting maps for the N.C. House and Senate, and U.S. Con- gress. e Senate on ursday, Nov. 4, voted 25-21 for the House map. e House voted 65-49 to approve the map for the Senate, and also 65- 49 for the congressional map, which includes a new 14th Congressional District in the western part of the state. Fifteen counties from Cherokee to Watauga are included in the district. "I am confident that the House and Sen- ate have approved redistricting plans that include maps that are constitu- tional in every respect," House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said about the passage of the Senate and con- gressional maps. Criteria for drawing the maps included considering equal population — the number of people in each legislative district within plus- or minus-5% of the ideal district population. Legislators also weighed contigu- ity, county groupings as required by previous court cases, only splitting voting districts, when necessary, the compactness of districts, municipal boundaries and the use of member residence. As a result, they tried to keep counties whole and have mini- mal splits of municipalities. Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate touted transparen- cy, as meeting rooms where the maps were drawn were open to the public for a few weeks and could be viewed live on YouTube. Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, who chairs the House Redistricting Com- mittee, said the process was historic and unprecedented. Public hearings were held across the state. Hall said lawmakers agreed to an amendment of the congressional map that kept the "fingerling" or north- east counties together but, overall, 11 counties across the state were split, along with 24 voter tabulation districts. Two municipal boundaries — Char- lotte and Greensboro — were split due to population. Hall said he was disap- pointed by the lack of participation by Democrats in drawing congressional maps in the committee room. Rep. Robert Reives, D- Chatham, intro- duced an amendment that would have kept Guilford County together. Reives said the amendment was introduced in the Senate a few weeks ago and has been on display for public view. Hall said he only saw that amendment a few minutes before the session. "I notice it would split the finger counties in the northeast," Hall said. "It splits more municipalities and will split more counties. is map doesn't comply with criteria the base map has." e amendment was voted down, 67 – 47. "I think a reasonable argument can be made in Greensboro and Guilford County that the African American population feels targeted with surgical precision," said Rep. Amos L. Quick III, D-Guilford. "I am taken aback that the Demo- crats wished that they had more involvement in this process," said Hall. "ere was no input. We have no alternate congressional map from Democrats. If you have a process that doesn't consider election data, it's done out in the open with audio and video, you consider keeping cities and counties whole, and if you still don't like the outcome, perhaps the problem is not the process, perhaps the prob- lem is your ideas." e subject of race came up many times throughout the process. ose opposed, including Demo- crats and various groups, said the maps dilute minority voting by split- ting up districts in certain areas, claim- ing the new districts combine areas with nothing in common. e maps split up several urban areas or well-established areas such as the Triad, the Triangle, and Wilming- ton, and include them with more rural areas, thus, splitting voters of race and ethnicity and of the Democrat Party. Is this the final say on the maps until 2030? Probably not. In a motion filed Friday, Oct. 29, the Southern Coalition for Justice told the court it's leading a lawsuit for the state chapter of the NAACP and Common Cause, NAACP v. Berger. e lawsuit names as defendants Senate Leader Phil Berger, R- Rock- ingham, and Moore in their official capacities as legislative leaders, along with chairs of the House and Senate Redistricting and Elections Commit- tees, as well as members of the N.C. State Board of Elections. THERESA OPEKA, Carolina Journal News Service. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. NEWS Lawmakers approve final redistricting maps by THERESA OPEKA Gain Real Industry Skills for Real Jobs! Register Today! www.faytechcc.edu/continuing-education • (910) 678-8494 • FORKLIFT – OSHA FORKLIFT OPERATOR – 24 HOURS • MONTACARGAS – OPERADOR DE MONTACARGAS EN ENSPANOL-BASADO EN LA NORMATIVE DE OSHA – 24 HOURS • OSHA 10-HOUR CONSTRUCTION SAFETY COURSE • OSHA 10-HOUR GENERAL INDUSTRY COURSE • OSHA 30-HOUR GENERAL INDUSTRY COURSE • PROPERTY MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN • WELDING – GTAW (GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDING) – TIG, PART I • WELDING – INDUSTRIAL WELDING TECHNOLOGY • YELLOW BELT/LEAN SIX SIGMA