LOD: Turning 51% into 64%

A column from the John Locke Foundation points out that even though Republicans received only 51% of the votes cast in NC House contests, they won 64% or 77 of the 120 seats in that chamber of the General Assembly. A similar imbalance happened in the state Senate elections this year because of the way legislative district lines were carved up through the extremely partisan redistricting process. And it’s happened in many previous years, to the advantage of the Democrats because of how that party drew the maps. The Locke Foundation often manipulates facts to fit its core anti-government agenda, but sometimes it picks a topic that deserves attention. Democracy NC is part of a large coalition with the Locke Foundation and many others (called the NC Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform), which promotes better disclosure laws, redistricting reform, conflict of interest/ethics regulations, and a limited number of other good government proposals. This LOD column by Locker Mitch Kokai was written immediately after the election, before provisional ballots and final counts were certified, but the details and overall message about the need for changing the redistricting process make it worth the read.