Last week we showed a sampling of Anita Earls’ map for the State House from 2011 compared to what her former colleagues are now contending. Today we wanted to share some of her Congressional map exploits and see how her map stacks up against what her former colleagues at SCSJ claim is an unfair gerrymander.
Earls’ full map from 2011 is below:
Guilford County
Earls’ former organization, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and other liberal plaintiffs are arguing that Guilford County being split between three congressional districts leads to an unfair gerrymander. Below is a map of what Earls drew in 2011.
And below is the enacted map, which the plaintiffs claim is an unfair gerrymander.
Not only did Earls in 2011 draw Guilford in to three different congressional districts, but the 6th Congressional District (the purple shaded district) is only contiguous based on a single point on the map. Zoomed out below it’s that much more clear how extreme Earls’ draw is compared to the enacted map.
Plaintiffs described the enacted map they are litigating as “egregious cracking,” which makes one wonder how they would view their own submitted maps from a decade ago.
Wake County
Similar to the plaintiffs’ contentions in Guilford that Wake County being divided in to too many congressional districts in Wake County results in an unfair gerrymander. Below is Earls’ map that she drew in 2011.
And now for a look at the enacted map that the liberal plaintiffs claim is an unfair gerrymander.
An astute observer will notice that in both maps that Wake County is split between three congressional districts.
Mecklenburg County
Liberal plaintiffs are currently contending that the enacted map is an unfair gerrymander, again accusing defendants of “cracking and packing” voters. Below is an image of the map that Earls submitted in 2011 of Mecklenburg County.
You’ll notice that Mecklenburg County is split between four congressional districts, with two districts traversing the county line multiple times so that all four districts pick up parts of heavily Democratic Charlotte.
For comparison, the enacted map that the plaintiffs allege is an unfair gerrymander is below.
Eastern North Carolina
As they have elsewhere, plaintiffs have alleged unfair gerrymanders all throughout eastern North Carolina. Below is Earls’ proposed map of eastern North Carolina.
And now is the enacted map plaintiffs allege is an unfair gerrymander.
Earls’ proposed map splits 13 counties for the northeastern NC district, labelled as Congressional District 1 in her map. Conversely, only two counties are split in the enacted map’s corresponding district, labelled Congressional District 2 in the enacted map.