Redistricting: State needs non-partisan group to draw common sense boundaries

North Carolina lawmakers will soon convene in Raleigh to begin trying to redraw voting district maps that will receive approval by the federal courts.

We fervently hope that they will be able come up with boundary lines that meet federal muster and that reduce the ridiculous gerrymandering that confuses voters.

And we would wish, in a more perfect world, that one political party would not use its power to draw lines to protect its own. But that's not likely to happen, political parties being what they are.

We believe that a non-partisan group of mapmakers should be tasked with coming up with the new lines. Again, that is not likely to happen. But we can still wish.

Much of the great divide between right and left in this country is due to these district lines that tend to entrench politicians who carry extreme views. The element of compromise that has so often allowed our state and nation to move ahead seems almost dead now. Where are the middle of the road politicians who could work together? They have been gerrymandered out of a job.

Published in Editorials on July 31, 2017 9:20 PM