The Persistence of the Gerrymander in North Carolina Congressional Redistricting

Abstract

One of the most important special geographic units below the state level is that established for conducting elections. The determination of one type of electoral unit, the congressional district, is a matter of considerable conse­ quence to our federal system of government as manifested in the United States House of Representatives—’’the grand depository of the democratic principle.” Yet in our supposedly democratic form of government, congres­ sional districts have traditionally been subject to enormous population disparities and gerrymandering. Political power is rarely surrendered volun­ tarily. A political “rule of the game” has been that the party or interest in power apportioned and redistricted so as to stay in power. North Carolina has been no exception. Among its 21 congressional district plans over the past 180 years, including three realignments since 1960, the gerrymander had helped perpetuate the rural domination of the state’s congressional delegation, and mor§ recently, it has been used to try to stem the rising tide of Republicanism and return Democratic incumbents to office. North Carolina therefore provides a meaningful case study as to the persistence of a tactic that has too long prevailed with the nation’s political system.