This increase has led to North Carolina gaining a 14th Congressional seat. Given the state’s long history, both past and recent, of racial and partisan gerrymandering that negatively affects communities of color, there remains a critical need for ongoing education, engagement, and advocacy in the redistricting process.

NC Counts Coalition acts as a central hub for redistricting efforts by facilitating cross-sector partnerships that bring together various organizations to ensure alignment, collaboration, and the dissemination of information, resources and educational material for effective community outreach. By leveraging the broad community partnerships established during our  2020 Census outreach, we are continuing to build a diverse coalition of leaders, activists, and grassroots organizations equipped with the information and skills necessary to advocate for fair redistricting maps.

What is redistricting?

Redistricting is the process of redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts within a state. It typically occurs after each decennial census to ensure that each district has roughly equal population representation. Redistricting takes place at both the state and local level, with district lines being redrawn for the US Congress, state legislature, county, city and school boards.  

Why does redistricting take place?

Redistricting allows district boundaries, often referred to as district lines, to be redrawn or adjusted to account for shifts in population and changes in demographics to help ensure fair representation in legislative bodies, such as the U.S. House of Representatives or state legislatures. At its core, redistricting is about equal representation – ensuring that every vote has equal weight.  

How is redistricting connected to the census?

The redistricting process relies on population and demographic information from the decennial census. After the census data is made public, indicating shifts in populations and demographics, political boundaries (districts) are adjusted (redistricting) to ensure fair representation and balanced political power by accounting for these changes reflected in the census data.

How does redistricting impact me?

Redistricting impacts your political representation, access to resources, and voting power.

• Representation: The boundaries of your electoral district determine which politicians represent you at various levels of government. Redistricting can change these boundaries, affecting who represents you and potentially altering the political dynamics in your area.
• Access to Resources: Representatives often advocate for resources and funding for the communities they are elected to serve. Changes in representation due to redistricting could affect the amount of federal or state funding allocated to your community for things like infrastructure, education, or healthcare.
• Voting Power: Redistricting can also affect your voting power. Changes in district boundaries may influence the demographics and political leanings of your district, potentially altering the outcome of elections and the power of your vote.  Sometimes this could mean your voting power is diluted or inflated, depending upon if you’re in a district that’s been drawn (gerrymandered) to give one political party an unfair advantage over the other.

What is Gerrymandering, and what are solutions to end it?

Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to benefit a particular political party, group, or individual. It involves drawing district lines in a way that gives one party an advantage over its opponents by concentrating or dispersing voters in certain areas. This practice can lead to unequal representation and distorted election outcomes, undermining the principle of fair and democratic elections. But there are solutions to end gerrymandering:

• Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC): An IRC would take the map drawing process away from the manipulation of political figures and place it in an independent body composed of community members, so that districts reflect our communities through a fair and neutral process with greater public input and oversight. For more information on how this could work and benefit North Carolina. 
• Prison Gerrymandering is the distortion to our district lines that occurs when voting maps are drawn using Census numbers that count incarcerated individuals where they are temporarily displaced instead of their home communities. This typically occurs at the local level when districts are drawn for cities, school boards, and counties. Prison Gerrymandering skews the population count, it defies the law which explicitly states that incarceration does not change a residence, and it distorts political power away from those communities that a person who is incarcerated is from.

More on Redistricting

Information on Independent Redistricting Commission in North Carolina Prison Gerrymandering Resources