Feds Reject N.C. Plan on Districts (The Charlotte News)

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Feds reiect
N.C. plqn
on districts

FBoM NEws srAFr elo wrne neponis
The U.S. Justice Department to-

day. objected under 
-the 

Voting
Rights Act to North Carolina's rel
apportionment plans for both the
congressional districts and the
state Senate in counties covered
by the law.

Assistant Attorney General
William tsradford Rdynolds, in
charge of the department's Civil
Rights Division, said the state
Senate redistricting plan has the
effect of diluting the mlnority
vote in some counties covered by
the Votlng Rights Act.

Reynolds also said the govern-
rnent was unable to conclude that
North Carolina's decision. to ex-
clude Durham County from the
Second Congressional District
was not "wholly free from dis-
criminatory purpose and effect."

Reynolds said he therefore
couldn't approve the state's con-
Bressional redistrlctlng ptans for' those counties the law covers.

;. - Under the Voting Rlghts Act,
I nlne states and parts of 13 others,
1 lncluding North Carolina, mustI get clearance from the Justice De-

partment or a federal court before
changing election laws or proce-dures. I

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The Justlce Department said
. the- Senate redistricting for sev.
eral counties the Voting Rights
Act covers - including Guilford,
Wilson, Nash, Bertie, Edgecomb
and Martin - had the eflect of
diluting the minority vote.

"There are cognizable concen-trations of mlnority persons
whose political strength ti OituteA
as a result of the use of multi-
member dlstricts ln the proposed
redistricting plan,". the' govern.
ment said.

Reynolds noted 
'that 

the state
Senate plan may have resulted
from a 1968 state constitutlonal
amendment prohibiting the divi-
sion of counties for state legis-
lative districts. Justice objected- to
that provision last week. 

-

'Reynolds said he was ,.unable
to conclude, as I must under the
Voting_Rights Act, that the pro-
posed lenate redistricting plah is
free of a racially- discrimi-natory
purpose or effect.',

Reynolds' interpretatlon appar-
ently means the,state must r-esort
to single-membe{ aistricts tn tt oie
areas to. copq ut' Wlth an accept.
able redistrictlng plan.

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. Ard, say state attorneys, use ofs.ingle-member districti' ;;ri;lKely have to be statewide to in-sure a uniform plan, even thouehou counties (including Meckle-n-
ourg) aren't covered by ttre taw.

_fgd"V'l decision atso'spels at-most,. certain trouble toi Nori-irLarollna's redistricting plan forthe state House, since- tirat-pl-a'nwas .also developed witfr mirf[i-mem.ber districts. .lustice tiain;truled on that plan.
If Mecxtenburg, which nowgets etght house seats in at.large

voting, were divided lnto eight
single-member districts, a Univii-
sity of North Carolina at Greeni-
boro study has shown ttrat at teaittwo black representatives proba-
bly would be elected froin the
county. There are none now.

.fn tfe Senate, Mecklenburg and
adjoining Cabarrus - whiclinow
Iorm a four-member district _
would be divided into four, single-
member districts.
. The Congressional ptan's failureisn't likely to affect Mecklen-
_burg's Ninth District or Repub-
lican Rep. Jim Martin. fnat'Os-
trict, which also includes treOett
and Lincoln counties, never faced
a serious threat of being changed

during redistricting deliberations
last -summer. Another redrawinp

H%llX#H';:rY Pose tittt' oani'?

Reynolds said an analysis of thecongressional redistriciine plan
Lhar would exclude Ourham
County showed ttre Utactipoiuia-
tion in the district tras Uieri di-
creasing.

. ."This reduction in black poou-
Jauon percentage, occurrin! ite-splre a statewide increase ii ttre
!l-",.1. rypytftiol, js especiaily ciul
crat tn District 2, because it dccursrn.the only district where black
voters could have the potentiaiioi.
erecting a candidate of their
choice," Reynolds said.

rytests N.C. redistricting
continued from poge 1A