Reapportionment Criteria

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REA PPORT IONI'IE{T CRITERIA

The counittei responsible for redistricting tbe North

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Carolina House of Representatives, assisted by the legislative
staff, shall be guided by the following standards in the

developnent of the plan for the State House: --
I. Each legislative district shalI, in accordance witb the

requireoents of the 14th Anendnent to the Constitution of the

united states and of Article rr, sections ,(r) and 5(r) of the

constitution of North carorina, be drawn so as to contain as

nearly as possible 49f015 for each House member in such legislative
districts. The population variation (relative deviatioa) of each

district sha1l fall.between plus and minus five percent (!r%).

2. rn order to avoid the dilution of the voting rigbts of
racial minorities as protected by the voting Rigbts lct of L96,

and tbe 14th and lrth Aroenduents to the United States Constitution,

concentratioas of racial ninorities shall not be fractured, dividecl,

or diluted or submerged by the use of multi-member districts, as

opposed to single roerober districts in violation of the Voting

Rights Act of 1965 and the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Unitecl

States Constitution or the Constitution of North Carolina.

,. AlL legislative districts sha1l consist of contiguous

temitory as required by the North Carolina Constitution and shall
be as compact as is practicable consistent with requirements 1

and 2 above.

4. 1Io the extent eonsistent with aII of the above require-

ments, districts should be constructed so as to recognize the

statets historic comrounities and comraonalities of interests witb

respect to the inbabitants and constituencies within such districts.

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'; ,. To the extent not inconsistent lrith all of the above

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I\-?' standards and in order to nininize voter confusion and naintain

, the interests set out in paragraph 4 above, present legislative

district lines shall be preserved.

6. No county shall be subdivided nor shal1 a corrnty line

be broken unless necessary to neet the requirenents of I tbrough

! above

?. During the course of its work' the coronittee shall

consult with the legisLative staff, the Attorney General and

retained counsel with respect to any legal issues'

8. The counittee sball conplete its work to the end that

a legislative proposal is prepared for the conrnittee to hold a

public hearing on its proposed plans the week of Febrlal';r I' 1982.

( ! Tbe coouittee shaIl, in consultation with counsel' prepare raailings

I notifying interested individuals and organizations throughout the

gtate of the date and tine of the public bearing and shall also

cause appropriate press releases to be prepared for the nedia.

, Tbe conroittee shall also prepare notices for publication in the

I legal notices section of appropriate newspapers.

9. After the public hearing has been held, the cororuittee

sha1l seek such opinions fron the Attorney General and retained

. counsel as tbey deem appropriate and to report a bill favorably

to be acted upon by the Legislature the week of Febnrary 8r 1982.

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