ELIZABETHTOWN — The League of Women Voters of North Carolina and the Bladen County Republican Party will host an educational seminar about redistricting reform Oct. 15.
The seminar is open to everyone, not just members of a particular party. It is at 6 p.m. and will be held in the Powell-Melvin Agricultural Service Center, 450 Smith Circle in Elizabethtown.
The event is billed as a chance to learn more about gerrymandering and the need for fair maps. Discussion is expected to include references to President Ronald Reagan, a look at how gerrymandering works and how it harms democracy.
The League of Women Voters will offer its take on what it believes a better system looks like, and how it supports redistricting reform.
While the event includes a co-host that is partisan, the website of the League of Women Voters says it “is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy.”
The League’s website lists what it calls five principles for reasonable redistricting reform. They are:
• Include the legislature in the process, such as in naming some of the commissioners.
• Include citizens and/or impartial experts as commission members.
• Set strict rules for the commission’s work that apply traditional redistricting standards (compact, contiguous, communities of interest); do not allow the use of partisan data or partisan objectives; and use voting rules that require bipartisan support for the maps.
• Provide for extensive citizen participation and transparency.
• Make the maps final on the commission’s vote.
The League says it studied 50 bills introduced last year alone. It hopes to make a difference in time for the 2021 redistricting cycle.
