U.S. District Court Orders NC to Hold Special Legislative Election for All Districts in 2017

Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for the post.

On November 29th, a 3-Judge U.S. District Court ordered North Carolina to hold Special Elections for allLlegislative seats in November 2017. The Primary for such Special Elections will be in late August or early September 2017.

CLICK HERE to read the seven page (PDF) Court order in Covington v State.

All State Legislators in North Carolina normally have two-year terms, and all Districts held Elections earlier this month. But the winners of this month’s Election, under the terms of the Court order, last only one year, not two years. The basis for the order is that the current Districts, drawn up in 2011, are an Unconstitutional Racial Gerrymander. The new Court order gives the Legislature until March 15th, 2017, to draw new Districts. If the Legislature does not do that, the court will draw new Districts.

The State may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to countermand this order, but the U.S. Supreme Court has already had a chance to intervene in this case earlier, and it chose not to do so. Normally independent candidates and newly-qualifying Parties have several years to complete ballot access petitions. The Fourth Circuit ruled in 1981 in Mathers v Morris that in Special Elections, the number of signatures must be reduced, or the petition deadlines must be extended. So, it is likely that ballot access for the 2017 Special Legislative Elections will be easier in 2017 than it normally is.











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