Affidavit of William Kenneth Hale

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AFFIDAVI

t{illiam Kenneth Hale, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

1. I am an attorney licensed in the State of ltlorth Carolina and an employed by

the North Carolina General Assemb'ly. I served as chief counsel to the House

Legislative Redistricting Conmittee (hereinafter, the Committee) for the 1981

General Assembly.

2. I was furnished by the North Carolina Department of Justice with a computer

printout of the North Carolina House Plan that was formulated by lth'Michael S. ltlicha'lec

for the plaintiffs in Cavanagh v. Brock (82-545-CIV-5). I had our computer operators

place the data from the M'ichalec House Plan into our computer for verification and

analysis, t.Ie used the same computer program that was employed by the 1981 General

Assembly in developing the North Carolina House Legislative Redistricting Plan'

3, I then drew a map to graphically depict the Michalec House Plan. I inmediately

noticed that the 26th House Djstrict consisted of two noncontiguous areas in viola-

tion of Article II, Section 5(2) of the Constitution of North Carolina: To wit'

Robeson County on the one hand, and Anson, Montgomery, and Richmond Counties and

Laure'l Hill Township of Scot'land County on the other hand, are separated by the

remainder of Scotland CountY, t{hich is in the 25th District'

4. The Michalec House Plan does not adequately recogn'ize the concentrations of

black populat'ion in the fol'lowing counties that are covered by the Voting Rights

Act of 1965 and that were specifically addressed by the United States Attorney

General in his letters of objection: Cumberland, Guilford, Halifax, Caswell'

Northampton, Hertford, Martin, and Gates, Specifically the M'ichalec House Plan does

not subdivide Guilford or Cumberland Counties to recognize the voting strength of

black citizens as does the North Carolina House Plan'



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5. To illustrate mY Point

that I cited in Paragraph 4 of

comparison chart:

about the counties

this affidavit, I

other than Guilford and Cumberland

have compi I ed the fo'l lowi ng

COUNTY

Caswe'll
Northampton
Gates
Hal ifax
Mart i n
Hertford

REPS,

3
1

1

1

1

1

N. C. HOUSE PLAN

DISTRICT'S BLACK POP. X

39.4%
60.9%
60,9I

62,0% / 39.4%*
46.4% / 62,0%*

60.9%

I,IICHALEC HOUSE PLAN

REPS. DISTRICT'S BLACK POP. T

?
1

1

2
I
1

22.91
43,4%
49,0r

42.3* l 43,4%*
51 .0*
49.0x

The astericks indicate where count'ies have been divided and the composite

townships have been placed in two djstricts, The first figure indicates the

district,s b'lack population percentage for the greater number of county residents.

6. Section 5 of the voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits any change in election

practice or procedure having either the effect or purpose of denying or abridging

the right to vote on account of race or color. In its enforcement of the Act' the

United States Department of Justice has used two population thresholds in determin-

ing whether a rac.ial minority has a mqiority of voters in any particular district.

Because of a high percentage of nonvoting age persons and the presence of low voter

registration and turnout anong racial minorities, the Department considers a racial

,,minority,, population percentage of at least 65% of a district's tota'l population

and 60% of a district's voting age population necessary for members of a racial

minority to have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. United States v'

Mississippi, l00 s.ct,994,997 (1980), These figures are based on an assumption

of polarized or bloc voting.

7. In his letter of Januarl 20,1982, to Mr. Alex K' Brock, Assistant U.S'

Attorney General yil:liam Bradford Reynolds stated that North Carolina's "use of

large multi-member d.istricts effectively submerges sizeable concentrations of black

population into a majority wtrite electorate." Based on Section 5 standards,

Mr. Reynolds further stated:

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Our analysis also shows that the pl.an has other dilutive effects

on blacr'ioiing:iti.ngth-i; coverld areas of the state. For instance'

in the d..ii.,"gates,-Halifax, Hertford, Martin and l{orthanpton

counti.i-a.ei'(Oisirict it,-!n. Stl!9 pioposes to..reduce the black

percentage from 57.5* to-6i .iX- in tf,is'3-inember district' Black

voters in ilre current rrrii*.rber district have been able to elect a

candidate in District S. 
-ffrui, 

ttre proposed reduction in black popula-

tion percentage in that'Oii[riit-tnouiA appear to.be.a retrogression in

the posili;-6i raci al ,inoiiti.s tt ictt ibspect to their effective use

of the electorat franchise. eee. ,, untiEd'ititii, qis u.s. 130, 141 (1976)'

Mr' Reynolds then concluded,..In vjew of these proscribed effects, however, I

am unable to conclude, as I must under the voting Rights Act, that the proposed

House reapportionment pran is free of a raciaily discriminatory purpose and effect'

Accordingly, on behalf of the Attorney General, I must interpose an obiection to

theHouseplanasitrelatestothecoveredcounties'..
g.InordertomeettherequirementsoftheVotingRightsAct,andunderthe

advice and supervision of ltr. Jerris Leonard, an attorney in btashington' D'C" with

extensive experience in voting Rights Act administration and litigation, the legis-

rative staff and House Legisrative Redistricting committee then proceed to create

singre-member House districts in the Northeast, The brack population percentage of

each township was indicated on a large map, and townships were grouped into single-

member districts in accordance with the population percentage standards mentioned

in ParagraPhs 6

districts, "one

and 7 of this affidavit. At the same time, in drawing these

person' one vote" requirements were recognized and followed bY the

staff and conmittee to the end that au district rerative deviations did not exceed

p'lus or m'inus f ive percent (1SX1'

9. The resultS of this effort were the northeast district configurations enacted

by the General Assembly in the First Extra Session 1982 (Session Law chapter 4 -

House Bill 1). The 5th and 7th Districts, with black population percentages of

60.9xand62'0xrespectively,containthehighestpercentagesofb.lacksattainable

under the 1gg0 census data. In order to create these districts in accordance with

the U.S. Justice Department,s popu'ration threshords mentioned in Paragraph 6 of

this affidavit, there had to be wtrolesale disregard for the county lines in this

area, Attention had to be directed at those townships with high concentrations of

blacks that cou'td be grouped into single-member districts. There are, of course'



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other configurations that yield three sing'le-member districts in this geographical

area, but to date no other such plan has been drawn that provides for two districts

with black populations of 62.0* and 60.9X.

10, The entire northeast area of the Michalec House P'lan would have to be

redrawn in order to meet the objections interposed by the U.S. Attorney General.

Redrawing this area would in turn require redrawing almost every other district
line in the piedmont and eastern sections of the State, Redistricting experience

has shown that the resu'lting transfers of townships between districts in the east

will naturally have a "ripple" or "domino" effect that would extend to Guilford

County and its adjacent counties,

11. My calculations indicate to me that it is not possible in drawing North

Carolina House districts to comply with federal statutory and constitutional

redistricting requirements and the objections of the U,S, Attorney General without

dividing counties that are not covered by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

this

1 993,

My Comrnission Expires 9- arl- 8l

subscribed before me

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