Raleigh Wake Citizens Association v. Wake County Board of Elections

After the North Carolina General Assembly passed a local bill in 2013 redistricting the Wake County Board of Education and Board of County Commissioners, SCSJ filed two lawsuits in federal court challenging the redistricting on the ground that it violated the one-person, one-vote principle. The Fourth Circuit found the challenged plans to be unconstitutional, and ordered that a remedy be put in place by the 2016 general election. In November 2016, the nine members of the School Board were elected under the districts that existed before the unconstitutional local bill was enacted in 2013. The three members of the seven-member Board of County Commissioners who were up for election in 2016 were elected to two-year terms pursuant to the prior at-large plan. After the General Assembly did not develop a remedial plan during the 2017 session, we negotiated a consent decree with the Defendant.