Court: Not enough time to redraw gerrymandered N.C. districts

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The state of North Carolina will not change the boundaries of its congressional districts before the November midterms, because there isn't enough time to do so, a court has decided.

The court issued its decision Tuesday, ordering the state to keep its present mapping -- even though a judge ruled last week it's unconstitutionally gerrymandered to benefit Republicans.

"Imposing a new schedule for North Carolina's congressional elections would, at this late juncture, unduly interfere with the State's electoral machinery and likely confuse voters and depress turnout," the three-judge panel wrote in its ruling Tuesday.

The judges ruled last week the 2016 redistricting was done to "ensure Republican candidates would prevail in the vast majority of the State's congressional districts."

North Carolina has 13 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of those, 10 belong to Republicans, and the court determined the maps were geared so the GOP could maintain those seats, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Despite the disparity in congressional seats, Democrats showed up in droves to support Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential bid with 2.2 million votes, only 200,000 less than then-GOP nominee Donald Trump received.

While Democrats celebrated the court's decision last week, politicians wondered how they could redraw the maps, print new ballots and have candidates campaign in new districts just two months before election day on Nov. 6.

Phil Berger, the Republican leader of the North Carolina Senate, said the last remaining obstacle to printing the ballots has been removed.