Affidavit of J. Daniel Long No. 2

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AFFIDAVIT

J. Dan'iel Long, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

1, I am an attorney licensed in the State of t{orth Carolina and an employed

by the General Research Division of the Legislative Services Office' I provided

legal and technica] assistance to the Senate Redistricting Committee of the l{orth

Carolina General Assemb'ly during the redistricting process in 1981 and 1982,

Z. part of my duties during the redistricting process included mapping out

various red'istricting proposals and making statistical analyses of the programs

with regard to one-person, one-vote and racial percentages.

3, The General Assembly original ly enacted a red'istricting p'lan for the

Senate in July 19g1, that did not d'ivide any counties in the formation of districts.

The plan was submitted to the United States Department of Justice for preclearance

pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as anended (42 U.S,C. 51973'

et seq. ).

4. By letter dated December 7, 1981, the Attorney General interposed an

objection to the proposed Senate redistricting plan stating that analysis showed

that in counties such as Guilford, tlilson, Nash, Bertie, Edgecombe and Martin,

there were cogni zable concentrations of minority persons rrrtrose pol itical strength

was diluted as a result of the use of multi-member districts in the proposed

redistricting p1an, The objection letter went on to specifically point out that

the Senate plan proposed a three-member district in Guilford County with a black

population percentage of only 25%i yet, under a fairly drawn system of single

member districts in that area, one such district likely nou]d be majority black and

would better recognize the potential of blacks to elect representation of their

choice, Likewise, the objection letter specifically noted that in Hilson, Nash,

Edgecombe, lrlartin and several of the counties in proposed District 1(which

comprised the covered counties of Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Gates,

Hertford, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans and tlashington, and the uncovered



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counties of Currituck, Dare, Hyde and Ty'rell) the multi-member districts seemed to

give b'lackvoters no opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, frile fairly

drawn single member d.istricts would likely result in Senate districts that would

not minimize the voting potential of black voters in those covered counties'

5, The Genera'l Assembly enacted a new redistricting plan for the Senate in

February !gg2, wtr.ich did divide numerous counties in attempting to devise a plan

which would meet one person, one vote requirements and also address the objections

interposed by the Attorney General. This plan was submitted to the Attorney

General for Prec'learance'

6, By letter dated April 14,1982, the Attorney General again interposed

objections to the Senate redistricting plan. The obiection letter noted that the

plan was a substantial improvement and pointed to Guilford County wtrere they felt

the state had created a district in wtrich black voters now were given a reasonable

opportunity to e'lect candidates of their choice. (Guilford had been divided into

three single-member districts, with District 31 having a black popu'lation of 54.9X.)

The objection letter, however, went on to specifically note that while the Senate

plan proposed a majority b'lack District 2 in the northeast with a 5L.7% black popu-

lation, it was widely recognized that a compact, non-gerrymandered district with at

least a 55% b'lack population could be drawn in the northeast area. Because the

State enacted a plan providing for only a 51.7% black popu'lation percentage' an

objection to the Senate plan was interposed'

7. The North Carolina Department of Justice provided the General Research

Division with a computer printout of the redistricting plan wtrich was prepared by

Mjchael S. Michalec for the plaint'iffs in Cavanagh v. Brock (82-545-CIv-5). I was

asked to make an analys'is of the Michalec plan for red'istricting the Senate.

g, Because of the specific objections previously interposed by the United

States Department of Justice, I looked particularly at the proposed districts for

Guilford County and for the northeastern counties' The Michalec p'lan divides

Guilford County horizontally across the middle and places the northern and middle

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townsh.ips of Guilford county with Rockingham County to create a two-member district

with a b'lack population of 16,7*. The southern townships of Guilford county are

combined with Randolph County to create a two-member district with a black

population of 24.9t. It is quite obvious that this particular plan ignores the

Attorney General,s obJections to multi-member districts in the Guilford area trhich

dilute the cognizable concentrations of minority persons in Guilford County. The

original Senate p'lan objected to had a three-member district with a black popula-

tion of 25I. The Senate plan approved by the Attorney General contains a single-

member district in Gu'ilford county with a 54'9X black population.

9, A similar ana'lysis was made of the districts proposed by the ltlicha'lec plan

in the northeastern counties. The Micha'lec plan does create single-member Senate

districts for most of the areas speciflcally pointed out by the united States

Department of Justice, the northeastern area and the counties of Nash, Edgecombe'

and Martin. Ililson County, however, is put into a two-member district' The

districts created by the Michalec plan covering these areas and their black popula-

tion percentages are: District 1 (43.7I); District 2 (33'5I); District O (36'2I);

District 7 (51,9*); District 8 (38.8r); and District 9 (2g.8%)' (hviously, this

plan with its only black majority district of 51.9I, will be no rr)re acceptable to

the Attorney General than the 5!.7* black district proposed by the General Assembly

in their FebruarY 1982 Plan.

10, In light of the objections already interposed by the Attorney General, the

M'ichalec p'lan is inval id on its face'

11. The entire northeast and all of the Guilford area of the Michalec plan

would have to be redrawn in order to meet the objections interposed by the Attorney

General. Redrawing these areas would require redrawing almost every other

redistricting line for the entire piedmont and eastern part of North carolina. For

this reason further ana'lysis of the Michalec plan is futile'

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12. The Michalec plan is a classic illustration of the difficulties wtrich

arise in attempting to preserve county lines and also comply with the mandates of

the Vot'ing Rights Act.

J. Daniel Long, being duly sworn, states that he has read the foregoing

Affidavit subscribed by him, and that the contents thereof are true to the best of

his persona'l knowledge.

Sworn to and subscribed before me

*ls /2.,+!aay lf ,1983.
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My Connission Expires, 9-J{- gl

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