Target: Josh Stein, Attorney General of North Carolina
Goal: Support fair redistricting maps that give more power to voters rather than political parties.
A Black woman in Tennessee is sentenced to six years of prison for casting an illegal ballot. This sentence results despite the state’s admission that it made a clerical error enabling her to vote and despite the notoriously lax “punishments” handed down to white citizens and even public officials who have admitted to intentional voter fraud. In many states, research has revealed that mail-in ballots of Black voters are discarded and rejected at a rate up to four times higher than white voters. Over one-third of state legislatures are attempting to pass laws making it harder for minorities to vote. This ForceChange petition brought attention to the damage of such inequities and called for fairness.
Perhaps the most insidious and destructive voter suppression takes place when ruling parties get the opportunity to redraw Congressional maps. The resulting gerrymandering reduces voters to puzzle pieces that politicians use to hold onto power as they craft their own puzzles. At least one state will now get a more equitable playing field, setting a hopeful precedent for future cases.
North Carolina state leaders recently faced a raft of lawsuits claiming their drawing of the state’s 14 Congressional maps gave the majority Republican party an extreme advantage in elections and virtually eliminated competition before it could even begin. Redrawing maps is often done to stack districts with prospective voters of the party in charge. Minority-heavy districts often face the most intensive redesign efforts. Due to these unchecked powers exercised by both parties, only a mere ten percent of Congressional districts in the entire country are even still considered competitive.
The North Carolina case went to the state ‘s Supreme Court, which sided with the plaintiffs alleging gerrymandering. The Court ruled the state’s current maps violated the Constitution and deprived voters of the right to free and fair elections. They also ordered new maps to be drawn and clear evidence that these new maps demonstrate “a significant likelihood that the districting plan will give the voters of all political parties substantially equal opportunity to translate votes into seats.”
Similar rulings in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Ohio show promise that states are finally heeding the advice of the U.S. Supreme Court to curtail partisan gerrymandering. Sign the petition below to thank the legal counsel responsible for helping ensure equality for all voters.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Stein,
Gerrymandering is taking a decisively destructive toll on democracy. The troubling findings that only ten percent of districts nationwide are now competitive speaks to an increasingly partisan divide but also to the destructive results of putting voters’ fortunes largely in the control of hyper-partisans Since the U.S. Supreme Court has taken a hands-off approach to gerrymandering, states must take decisive action.
Thank you for arguing for voter equality and against the nation’s most widespread form of voter disenfranchisement before the North Carolina Supreme Court. Your successful appeal will help restore and protect the voices of all voters in the state and forge a path forward for all American voters.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Cottonbro
