Federal Court Ruling Brings Uncertainty Ahead of Congressional Elections

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – There’s new election uncertainty ahead of this November’s midterms.

A Federal Court ruled North Carolina’s Congressional maps need to be re-drawn because of gerrymandering.

That could lead to new primaries or a winner-take-all general election.

It’s the ruling Democrats like State Senator Jeff Jackson wanted, but the timing comes as a surprise.

Monday, a federal three-judge panel affirmed a decision that North Carolina’s Congressional maps are gerrymandered to favor Republicans.

Now they could be re-drawn, just 10 weeks before voters head to the polls.

“A lot of us were surprised by that because we’re getting close to the election,” Jackson says.

If the maps are re-drawn, options include:

– Holding new primary elections for Congressional seats

– Holding winner-take-all general elections without a primary

– Waiting until the 2020 election to use the new maps

The first two options could give new life to candidates like current 9th District Congressman Robert Pittenger, who was defeated by Mark Harris in May’s primary.

“We have to wait around and see what the next direction is for us to go,” says Mecklenburg County Election Director Michael Dickerson.

Dickerson says the challenge will be making sure voters are aware of what’s going on.

“How do I educate them on the process so they’re not confused when they walk in, they’ve got the actual facts and what’s going to happen,” Dickerson says.

For now, Jackson says we have to wait to see what happens.

“If we do have new maps this year, no question about it, there will be significant confusion because you’re going to have new primaries, and new districts, and you might think you’re in one district and turns out you’re in another district,” Jackson says.

Long-term though he says the changes will be good.

“My party cheated when we drew the districts, the other party’s cheating now that they’re drawing the districts. Now it’s a lot hard to do that, which is good for the voters,” he says.

Dickerson says it’s likely the case will be appealed, perhaps going to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Right now, there’s a vacancy, and the court is split 4-4 politically.

A tie would uphold the ruling of the lower court.