Are Your Dare County Voting Rights Being Violated?

What does "redistricting" mean to you, as a voter in Dare County?  To answer that question, let's take a look at what redistricting means.

Source: North Carolina General Assembly's "Redistricting Overview"

(begin quote)
What is redistricting?

Redistricting means redrawing the districts from which public officials are elected. Members of the United States House of Representatives, the North Carolina Senate and the North Carolina House of Representatives are elected by the voters who live in districts. Many county commissioners, school board members, and city council members are elected by districts as well.

When is it done?

Citizens in different districts have a right to representation in the legislative branch that is at least approximately equal. Therefore, representative districts must be redrawn after every census. The US Constitution requires a new census every 10 years. Censuses are always conducted in years ending in "0." Census data becomes available in years ending in "1.".......... County, city, and school boards who are elected by districts have the power to redistrict themselves, but those bodies are also subject to redistricting by the General Assembly. Those local boards must be redistricted by themselves or by the General Assembly after every census.  (end of quote)

It is unfortunate for the citizen/voters of Dare County that the North Carolina General Assembly, while having the power to enforce redistricting for local elections in all 100 counties, rarely involves itself with the matter.

This is especially true when the party in control of the state legislature also controls politics within  particular counties, as in Dare, for example.

So, legally, the County of Dare, led by its elected leaders and the county board of elections, should have studied redistricting following the 2000 federal census. It was not done. Again, next year, when the 2010 census figures are released, Dare County will, again, be required to "redistrict."  Will it happen?  EOD doesn't think so, unless the voters get mad enough to demand it; and, even then, it may require legal action on some(one's) part.  Welcome to Dare County, folks.

Currently, Dare County is governed by seven commissioners, six of whom must reside in four voting districts (drawn on the basis of equal population per candidate) and one at-large commissioner who may reside anywhere in the county.  By law, the representation from each of the four districts must be the result of candidates coming from areas of equal population as is possible, using the most recent U.S. Census.

Again, it is unfortunate for some, and politically beneficial for others, that Dare County's local voting districts have been out of kilter for years.  EOD will use voter registration figures to make this point, while acknowledging that it is population figures that dictate redistricting guidelines. Absent current population figures for each of Dare's four voting districts, we think voter registration figures will support the fact that "something must be done."

For example, one Dare County District (Manteo,Wanchese, Mainland Dare), with 5,846 registered voters is allowed to have two county commissioners, while another District (Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, Duck), with 6,356 registered voters is allowed only one county commissioner.
Another District (Hatteras Island), with 3,620 registered voters is allowed one county commissioner, while
another District (Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Colington), with 10,672 registered voters is allowed two county commissioners. More information of Dare voters can be found here.

Note: EOD has checked the Dare County Board of Elections website and found that section which should "list the voting Districts by the appropriate name " is outdated.  Why?  We don't know. You guess.

All of the above begs the question which EOD put forth yesterday to Robin Mann, the Democratic candidate for commissioner at-large in the November elections. Mann refused to answer the question which she deleted from her campaign website. She has since, agreed to discuss the matter with EOD via telephone next week.

Residents of Dare County owe it to themselves to stay tuned to this important state requirement, which affects their voting rights. Ask your county commissioner(s) why this matter hasn't been taken care of before now.