Expert Richard Winger analyzes court cases that can completely rearrange North Carolina politics | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

From Richard Winger’s Ballot Access News:

Two different courts are currently putting North Carolina election laws into a state of uncertainty. On August 31, 2015, the North Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Dickson v Rucho, over redistricting for both U.S. House and state legislature. The plaintiffs charge that too many black voters were packed into a limited number of districts, so as to reduce the influence of blacks in the state generally. In 2014, the North Carolina Supreme Court had upheld the districting plans. But on April 20, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued an order telling the State Supreme Court to rehear the case.

If the State Supreme Court rules that the current districts are unconstitutional, the legislature will be forced to draw new districts. The last time North Carolina had to redraw its districts in an election year (in 2004), the primary had to be postponed from May 4 to July 20, and the independent candidate petition deadline was moved (for 2004 only) from June 11 to July 6.

A U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem is currently hearing North Carolina State Conference of NAACP v McCrory. The trial began Monday, July 13. Thousands of people who support the plaintiffs rallied outside the federal courthouse that evening. The case challenges many aspects of HB 589, which passed the legislature in 2013. HB 589 eliminated the ability of provisional voters to vote inside their own county but in a different precinct. It eliminated the ability for unregistered voters to register to vote at the early voting centers. And it repealed pre-registration for 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder, a Bush Jr. appointee.See this article about the trial in Governing Magazine.

Meanwhile, the legislature is in session, but it has not acted on any important election law bills. HB 92 would set up an independent redistricting commission. Even though over half the House members are co-sponsoring it, it is not expected to pass. HB 457, the bill to move the presidential primary from February 23 to March 8 has not made any headway in the State Senate (although it passed the House in April). HB 509, the ballot access bill, has not made any headway.