Gerrymandering Galore in North Carolina

On Wednesday, North Carolina Republicans passed new, highly gerrymandered congressional and legislative maps. Republican legislators unveiled the drafts just last week after drawing them behind closed doors. 

The new congressional map has 10 Republican districts, three Democratic districts and only one competitive district. Democratic Reps. Kathy Manning, Jeff Jackson and Wiley Nickel are all eliminated and Don Davis is drawn into a hard-to-win district with a substantially diluted Black voting population. The three remaining Democratic districts have become packed with Democratic voters. 

Impressively, the newly enacted congressional map is even worse — that is to say, even less responsive to voters — than the map overturned in 2021, according to analysis from Duke University.  

• Thanks to that unfair 2021 map, last year’s remedial congressional map — which was drawn by court-appointed experts and was only in place for the 2022 midterms — had seven Republican districts, six Democratic districts and only one competitive district. It yielded a 7-7 split in congressional delegates following the 2022 election.

The new legislative maps will further entrench Republicans’ supermajorities in both chambers. The maps used last year yielded a 28-22 Republican advantage in the Senate and a 69-51 Republican advantage in the House. Data analysis from Dave’s Redistricting suggests that only three of the 120 House districts would be competitive. The state House map “significantly under-elects” Democrats and will likely maintain a Republican supermajority, regardless of turnout. Similarly, the state Senate map is also likely to preserve a Republican supermajority, even when Democrats receive more than 50% of the vote share. 

In Monday’s House Redistricting Committee meeting, Rep. Destin Hall (R), who chairs the committee, admitted what is abundantly and objectively clear: “Our overarching goal in the creation of this House plan was to create Republican-leaning districts where possible while… following traditional redistricting principles.” 

Learn more about why the maps were redrawn with such emboldened gerrymanders here.

Strike One, Two and Three: Bad Maps Begone in Georgia

Yesterday in Georgia, a federal judge struck down Georgia’s legislative and congressional maps after finding that the maps violate the Voting Rights Act (VRA). To remedy the VRA violations, Georgia must adopt the following districts by Dec. 8:  

• One additional majority-Black congressional district in west-metro Atlanta;

• Two additional majority-Black Senate districts in south-metro Atlanta;

• Two additional majority-Black House districts in south-metro Atlanta; 

• One additional majority-Black House district in west-metro Atlanta and  

• Two additional majority-Black House districts in and around Macon-Bibb.

In the wake of Alabama’s unprecedented defiance in refusing to comply with a court order to add a second Black-majority district, the court also makes it incredibly clear that it will not accept similar delays or acts of defiance. The judge clarified, “If an acceptable remedy is not produced, there will be time for the Court to fashion one—as the Court will not allow another election cycle on redistricting plans that the Court has determined on a full trial record to be unlawful.”

This decision is a major victory for Black voters in Georgia as they will be given the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in an additional congressional district and several state legislative districts. 

• After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Milligan this summer, the decision was expected to have a reverberating and largely positive impact on active redistricting litigation involving Section 2 claims across 10 different states. From Alabama to Georgia, two additional majority-Black districts will be added in time for the 2024 elections, and Section 2  challenges to congressional maps in eight other states are still ongoing.

True Th[at] Vote[r] Intimidation Went to Trial This Week

In other Georgia news, trial began in a federal lawsuit challenging True the Vote’s (TTV) alleged voter intimidation tactics yesterday. In November 2020, the Texas-based right-wing group launched the largest mass voter challenge in Georgia history. It targeted the eligibility of more than 364,000 Georgians — many of whom were Black, brown or first-time voters.

On Dec. 23, 2020, Fair Fight and voters filed a lawsuit against TTV, its founder and other associates alleging that TTV’s mass challenge scheme intimidated voters and therefore violated Section 11(b) of the VRA. Critically, this protection does not require proving intent or racial motivation, making it a useful legal tool in fighting voter intimidation and vigilantism.

• TTV is now defending its actions by arguing that Section 11(b) of the VRA is unconstitutional. The group also argues that if Section 11(b) is applied to their actions, lawful voters’ votes will be diluted, or worth less. This warped concept of vote dilution is an increasingly common theme in many recent conservative anti-voting lawsuits as a defense against the pro-voting plaintiffs’ cases.

This case will determine if TTV will have to take any sort of responsibility for putting hundreds of thousands of voters’ registrations at risk. Although many of the challenges were not successful, that does not detract from the harm caused. As the voters’ testimony illustrates, voter challenges have the impact of intimidating voters and making them question if voting is even worth it. 

Trial is expected to last 10 days. After that, it will be up to the judge to determine what, if any, accountability the group will face. For more background on True the Vote’s devastating impact and the case itself, check out senior case coordinator Madeleine Greenberg’s Case Watch here.

Election Deniers Take Plea Deals and the Speaker’s Gavel

In a domino effect, three co-defendants in the Fulton County, Georgia election subversion case have pleaded guilty this week. All three served as attorneys for former President Donald Trump during his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

• Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. Ellis must serve five years of probation, perform 100 hours of community service, pay $5,000 in restitution, testify against co-defendants, provide documents and evidence to the court and more. 

• Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to file false documents. Chesebro must serve five years of probation, perform 100 hours of community service, testify in future trials against any co-defendant, pay $5,000 in restitution and write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia.

• Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges. She must serve six years of probation, pay a $6,000 fine, owe $2,700 in restitution, write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia and testify against co-defendants in the case in future proceedings. Chesebro and Powell were originally scheduled to go to trial together on Monday of this week.

Additionally, in reporting from ABC, Mark Meadows was granted immunity to testify under oath in Trump's Washington, D.C. election subversion case and spoke with special prosecutor Jack Smith's team multiple times.

However, not every election denier is facing consequences. In Washington, D.C., Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) was elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives after 23 days of dysfunction. Though he is little known, Johnson voted against certifying the 2020 election and led the House effort to support a lawsuit to disenfranchise millions of voters.

• During the post-election legal effort, in which the Trump campaign filed over 60 lawsuits and lost all but one of them, Johnson — a staunch Trump supporter — circulated an email asking his colleagues to sign onto a “friend-of-the-court” (amicus) brief supporting the state of Texas’ lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decertify the election results in four key states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

• By invoking the fringe and now-rejected independent state legislature theory, Johnson also laid the groundwork for 139 House Republicans, including himself, to vote against certifying the election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Spooky: A Radical Legal Theory Rises From the Dead

Last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the decision to strike down several of the state's 2022 rules regulating partisan election challengers. The court held that the rules violate state law, ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Michigan Republican Party and others. 

One of the plaintiffs, Braden Giacobazzi, who served as an election challenger in Michigan’s 2022 primary election, was removed from an absentee ballot counting center in Detroit for allegedly harassing election officials. 

In Michigan, election challengers are appointed by political parties to monitor for wrongdoing in the area of voter eligibility and other limited circumstances related to the election process. 

As the ruling suggests, Michigan is not able to entirely avoid attacks on democracy, despite its hallowed Democratic trifecta. In an even more worrying development, Republican legislators in Michigan are attempting to resurrect the independent state legislature theory in a new federal lawsuit, Lindsey v. Whitmer.

• In addition to requesting that the court retroactively invalidate these two amendments, the Republican legislators challenge the “future use” of ballot measures that would enact amendments to the Michigan Constitution pertaining to the “times, places, and manner of federal elections.” Read more about the lawsuit and its dangers here.

Tally Three Victories for Voters

Amongst all of the week’s noise, there were three wins for voters scattered across the country that are due attention.

First, a federal judge rejected a Republican lawsuit seeking to block a new Nevada law that protects election officials from intimidation, harassment and interference. The law will continue to safeguard election workers from increasing threats.

Then, the notorious 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1992 consent decree requiring Louisiana to have a majority-Black district in Orleans Parish for state Supreme Court elections.

And, last, but not least, the Michigan Legislature passed a bill to overturn an 1891 law that makes it a crime to hire transportation to take voters to the polls in the state. The bill heads to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) for her likely signature.

More News

• The RNC and the Montana Republican Party moved to defend a state law that imposes criminal penalties on people who are registered to vote in more than one state. A lawsuit argues the law could penalize voters who are unknowingly registered in multiple states.

• Following the enactment of a strict voter ID law in January, almost one-third of all provisional ballots cast in Ohio's special August election were rejected due to a lack of proper identification.

• Also in the Buckeye State, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) canceled over 26,000 voter registrations in the state six days after voters began receiving ballots for the upcoming November elections.

• In Louisiana, there was a preliminary injunction hearing in a lawsuit challenging the state’s policy regarding re-enfranchisement for voters “suspended” from the voter roll ​​due to a felony conviction as it places additional burdens of proof on those previously registered.

OPINION: The Keystone to Democracy's Future in Pennsylvania

By Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, the president and executive director of NextGen America. Read more ➡️

Earlier this month, ballot language for a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would create an independent redistricting commission in the state was approved. Though the language now needs to be tweaked due to a single typo, the group leading the effort to put citizens in charge of Ohio’s redistricting process, Citizens Not Politicians, is recruiting signature gatherers so the amendment can be on the ballot next November! If you are in Ohio, or you fancy a trip in the name of fair maps, you can sign up here to volunteer. 

Tuesday is the last day to receive 10% off your merch order of $25 or more across our entire store! Use code THANKYOU10 to get democracy-themed t-shirts, water bottles, dog toys and more before this offer ends.

On this week’s episode of Defending Democracy, Marc and Paige speak about the growing threat of election vigilantism. Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.