A three-judge panel will allow recently drawn state Senate maps to take affect this year, in a case that argues the new maps violate the Voting Rights Act.
Brought by two voters soon after the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved the maps in October, plaintiffs argue the maps illegally dilute Black voting power in Northeastern North Carolina by splitting votes between two state senate districts.
The plaintiffs sought to keep the maps from being used in the upcoming election, but yesterday two judges in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a lower court to let the maps move forward, writing that it’s too close to an election to redraw maps.
