North Carolina's confusing primary: why so many votes won't count

[jpak]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0315/North-Carolina-s-confusing-primary-why-so-many-votes-won-t-count

North Carolinians can vote however they want in their Super Tuesday primary election, but one thing’s fairly sure: Many of those Tar Heel votes aren’t going to count.

Last month, a federal three-judge panel found that Republicans drew two of the state’s congressional districts illegally, packing more black voters into districts where they already had a plurality, thus boosting Republican odds by “bleaching” surrounding districts.

The result is, pretty much everyone agrees, a mess. The congressional candidates are still on the ballot along with the presidential and local candidates. But all the congressional votes will not be counted, and a new congressional primary with the new districts is scheduled for June 7.

North Carolina is not alone in its troubles. A flurry of recent federal court cases has raised questions about whether states have drawn their districts fairly. The 271-year-old gerrymander, long a symbol of crass political partisanship, is under mounting scrutiny.

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