Letter from Lani Guinier to Janet Wong RE: voter registration

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IN THE UNITED\ STATES DISTRTCT COURT
F'OR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTTI CAROLINA:.

RALTGH1 DlvrsroN
, ,tr. 

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CTVIL ACTION
NO. 81-80,3:CIV-5

RALPH GINGLES, et aI. )

)plaintiffs, )

v.

RUFUS EDMISTEN, et a1.

Defendants.

AIex K. Brock, being duly s\{orn, hereby deposes and

says:

1. I, Alex K. Brockr drTl Secretary-Director of the

State Board of Elections of North Carolina, the offices of
whLch are located at Suite 801, Raleigh Buildinq, 5 hTest

Hargett Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601i

2. I have served in that capacity continuously since

August 5, 1965, and was, therefore, servinq in that capacity
in 1967 when the General Assernbly of North Carolina ratified
Chapter 640, Session Laws of Lg67, which contained proposals

for two amendments to the constitution of North carolina;
3. Those two proposals were approved by vote of the

people in November of 1968 and became Article II, &4 (3)

(presently Article II, S3(3)) and Article fI, 56(3) (presently

Article II 55(3) ) of the Constitution of l.Iorth Carolina;

4. Article fI, 53(3) provides, inter a1ia, that the

General Assembly of North CaroLina is prohibited from dividing
counties in forming the state senate electoral clistricts;
Articre rr, s5(3) provides, inte_r alla, that the General Assembry

is prohibited from dividing counties l-n forming State Representative

electoral dlstricts;
5. As best f reca1I, I did not deem these amendments to

the State Constitution to be subject to the submission requirements

of 55 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ert the time of their
adoptlon, and, therefore, r did not submit the amendments to the

Attorney General of the United States for approval or seek their
approval by the United States District Court for the District of
Col-umbia;

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AFFIDAVIT



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5. I have, however, now advl-sed the Attorney General

of the 1968 Constitutional amendments, by way of correspondence

on the dates of September 22, 23, 24 and 28, 1981;

7. A copy of all of my correspondrence to the Attorney

General, regarding in part the 1968 amendments Ls attached

hereto, along with pertinent attachments to the correspondence,

excludj-ng coples of session 1aws, the correspondence and attach-

ments being incorporated herein by reference:

8. I have subnLtted all information to the .Attorney General

which I deern to be of any irnportance or siqnificance to a deternnina-

tion by him as to whether the amendments satisfy the requirements

of 55 of the \zoting Rights Act of 1965 and have requested that the

determination be made as expedltiously as possible;

9. I have also submitted to the Attorney General, for his

approval, copies of Chapter 8OO, Chapter 82L, and Chapter 87,

Session Laws of 1981, these constituting, respectively, North

Carolina's apportj-onment plans for the state House and Senate,

and state Congresslonal electoral districts:

10. I have subrnitted all other information deemed by rne

to be pertinent to the apportionment plans, includinq all
supplemental information requested by the Attorney General.

CI-*H &r,"*L
AIex K. Brock
Secretary-Director
North Carolina State

Board of Elections

AFFTANT

Sworn to and subscribed before me

this &e 6 ilt day of october, 1981.

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My CommissLon Expires