RALEIGH, N.C. — Election maps drawn late last year by the state legislature's Republican majority are such extreme, mathematical outliers that they must have been drawn to help elect Republicans, experts testified Monday as the state's latest redistricting trial got underway.
A state-selected trio of judges is hearing arguments in Wake County Superior Court through Thursday on the issue, an expedited schedule meant to leave time for the state Supreme Court to weigh in and potentially redraw maps ahead of this year's congressional, state House and state Senate races.
Where those map lines ultimately fall will affect who gets elected, and thus how much political power the Republican and Democratic parties have in the North Carolina General Assembly, as well as Congress.
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