§ 163-132.1. Participation in 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program of the United States Bureau of the Census.
Article 12A.
Precinct Boundaries.
§ 163‑132.1. Participation in 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program of the United StatesBureau of the Census.
(a) Purpose. TheState of North Carolina shall participate in the 2000 Census Redistricting DataProgram, conducted pursuant to P.L. 94‑171, of the United States Bureauof the Census, including Phase I (Block Boundary Suggestion Program) and PhaseII (concerning the designation of precincts on 2000 Census maps or databases),so that the State will receive 2000 Census data by voting precinct and be ableto revise districts at all levels without splitting precincts and in compliancewith the United States and North Carolina Constitutions and the Voting RightsAct of 1965, as amended.
(b) Phase I (BlockBoundary Suggestion Program). The State shall participate in the BlockBoundary Suggestion Program of the United States Bureau of the Census so thatthe maps the Census Bureau will use in the 2000 Census will contain adequatefeatures to permit reporting of Census data by precinct for use in the 2001redistricting efforts. The Legislative Services Office shall send preliminarymaps produced by the Census Bureau in preparation for the 2000 Census, as soonas practical after the maps are available, to the county boards of elections todetermine which of their precincts have boundaries that are not coterminouswith a physical feature, a current township boundary, or a current municipalboundary, as shown on those preliminary 2000 Census maps. The LegislativeServices Office shall:
(1) Assist county boardsof elections in identifying the precincts with boundaries not shown on thepreliminary Census maps and in identifying physical features the county boardsmay wish to have available for future precinct boundaries;
(2) Place thoseboundaries and features on maps deemed appropriate by the State Board;
(3) Request the U.S.Census Bureau to hold for census block identification in the 2000 U.S. Censusall physical features the county boards have identified as current or potentialprecinct boundaries; and
(4) Request the U.S.Census Bureau to hold for census block identification in the 2000 U.S. Censusall other physical features already on 1990 Census maps.
(c) Phase II. TheState shall participate in Phase II of the 2000 Census Redistricting DataProgram so that, to the extent practical, the precinct boundaries of all NorthCarolina counties will appear on the 2000 Census maps or database. The State'seffort shall be conducted as follows:
(1) By January 1, 1998,or as soon thereafter as they become available, the Legislative Services Officeshall provide the county boards of elections with access, on paper orelectronically, to the Census Bureau's maps for Phase II of the CensusRedistricting Data Program.
(2) After receiving themaps, the county boards of elections shall designate their precinct lines alongthe lines the Census Bureau indicates on the maps it will hold as blockboundaries for the 2000 Census. Where necessary, the county boards of electionsshall alter precincts, including any precincts approved under the provisions ofG.S. 163‑132.1A, 163‑132.2, or 163‑132.3 or designated bylocal act, to conform to lines the Census Bureau indicates it will hold asCensus block boundaries as shown on the official block maps to be used for the2000 Census and to consist only of contiguous territory. The county boards ofelections, at a time deemed necessary by the Executive Director of the StateBoard of Elections, shall file with the Legislative Services Office the maps onwhich they have designated their precincts pursuant to this subsection.
(3) After examining themaps, the Legislative Services Office shall submit to the Executive Director ofthe State Board of Elections its opinion as to whether the county board ofelections has complied with the provisions of this subsection, with notationsas to where those boundaries do not comply with these standards.
(4) If the ExecutiveDirector determines that the county board of elections has complied, he shallapprove the precinct boundaries as filed and those precincts shall be theofficial precincts.
(5) If the ExecutiveDirector determines that the county board of elections has not complied, heshall not approve those precinct boundaries but shall alter the precinctboundaries so that each precinct consists solely of contiguous territory andthat each precinct's boundaries are coterminous with 2000 Census blockboundaries nearest to the precinct boundaries shown by the county boards on themaps. These altered precincts shall then be the official precincts.
(6) Upon the adoption ofa resolution by a county board of elections and instead of altering precinctlines as required by G.S. 163‑132.1(c)(5), the Executive Director maycombine for Census reporting purposes only two or more adjacent precincts ofthe county into a Combined Reporting Unit, if the Executive Director findsthat:
a. The boundaries ofthe Combined Reporting Unit conform with the Census block boundaries as shownon the official block maps to be used in the 2000 Census;
b. The CombinedReporting Unit consists only of contiguous territory;
c. The precincts ofwhich the Combined Reporting Unit consists were bounded as of January 1, 1996,by ridgelines, as certified on official county maps by the county manager ofthe relevant county, or if there is no county manager the chair of the board ofcommissioners, and the boundaries failed to comply with subdivision (2) of thissubsection only because those ridgelines were unrecognized as Census blockboundaries in the 2000 official Census maps;
d. The CombinedReporting Unit does not contain a majority of the territory of more than onetownship; and
e. To alter thoseprecinct boundaries would result in significant voter dislocation.
Ifthe Executive Director recognizes a Combined Reporting Unit for specificprecincts, the official boundaries of those individual precincts forming theCombined Reporting Unit shall be those which the Legislative Services Officesubmitted to the Executive Director under subdivision (3) of this subsection.
(7) The ExecutiveDirector shall file the completed maps with the Census Bureau and request thatthe Census Bureau provide summaries of 2000 Census data by precinct andCombined Reporting Units.
(d) Freezing ofPrecincts.
(1) Notwithstanding theprovisions of G.S. 163‑132.3, after the Executive Director approves theprecincts in accordance with subsection (c) of this section and before January2, 2002, no county board of elections may establish, alter, discontinue, orcreate any precinct except by division of one precinct into two or moreprecincts using lines that the Census Bureau has indicated it will use as 2000Census block boundaries for that division. Provided that, whenever anannexation ordinance adopted under Parts 1, 2, or 3 of Article 4A of Chapter160A of the General Statutes, or a local act of the General Assembly annexingproperty to a municipality, becomes effective during the period beginning withthe date of the annexation as reported through the U.S. Census Bureau's 1998Boundary and Annexation Survey or a subsequent edition of that survey andending January 2, 2002, and any part of the boundary of the area being annexedwhich is actually contiguous to the city is also a precinct boundary forelections administered by the county board of elections then the county boardof elections may exercise one of the following options:
a. Direct by resolutionthat the annexed area is automatically moved into the "cityprecinct", provided that if the annexed area is adjacent to more than onecity precinct, the board of elections shall place the area in any one or moreof the adjacent city precincts.
b. Adopt a resolutionmoving the precinct boundary to a line that the Census Bureau has indicated itwill use as a 2000 block boundary.
(2) The Executive Directorof the State Board of Elections may permit during the freeze a correction to acounty's precincts as they were approved pursuant to subsection (c) of thissection where one of the following sets of conditions is present:
a. A precinct wasdesignated pursuant to subsection (c) inaccurately, and the United StatesBureau of the Census agrees to include the corrected precinct on its databasefor the 2000 Census.
b. The boundary of aprecinct designated pursuant to subsection (c) of this section was subsequentlyremoved by the United States Bureau of the Census as an acceptable feature fora precinct line based upon a determination by the Bureau that the feature didnot exist as shown, and the county board of elections agrees by resolution toan alternative boundary for the precinct on a feature the Bureau does findacceptable.
(3) The county board ofelections may move a precinct line from a township line to another line theCensus Bureau has indicated will be a 2000 block boundary if a Boundary andAnnexation Survey issued during the freeze shows that the township line hasmoved to a location the county board of elections considers unsuitable. Thissubdivision does not apply if local legislation enacted by the General Assemblygoverns the relationship between a county's township lines and precinct lines.
(4) The county board ofelections shall submit any proposed change made during the freeze under thissubsection to the Legislative Services Office, which shall review the proposaland write a letter advising the Executive Director of its opinion as to thelegal compliance of the proposal. If the proposal complies with the law, theExecutive Director shall approve the proposal. No newly created or alteredprecinct boundary is effective until approved by the Executive Director asbeing in compliance with the provisions of this subsection.
(d1) Right to PostponeEffective Date Until January 1, 2000. A county board of elections maypostpone the effective date of the precincts designated in Phase II untilJanuary 1, 2000.
(d2) Special Permissionto Postpone Effective Date Until January 1, 2001. The Executive Director maypermit a county board of elections to postpone the effective date of precinctlines designated under Phase II until January 1, 2001, upon written applicationby the county board of elections, if the Executive Director finds both of thefollowing:
(1) That the Phase II‑designatedlines would create a split precinct in 2000 for county commissioner, board ofeducation, judicial, State legislative, or congressional district elections andthat a split could be avoided by using the pre‑Phase II precinct.
(2) That the county canprovide reasonably reliable voter registration data for April and October of2000 by the Phase II‑designated precincts.
In granting an exception underthis subsection, the Executive Director shall allow an exception only for theprecincts that would result in splits and for any adjacent precincts for whichpre‑Phase II precincts must be used to avoid geographic overlap ordiscontinuity. Every county board of elections granted an exception under thissubsection shall provide to the State Board of Elections voter registrationdata for April and October of 2000 by the Phase II‑designated precincts.
(e) Municipal andTownship Boundaries. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (c) and(d) of this section, the county boards of elections may designate precinctboundaries on municipal or township boundaries that are not designated on the2000 official Census block maps, according to directives promulgated by theExecutive Director of the State Board of Elections and adopted to insure thatall precincts shall be included on the 2000 Census database.
(f) Additional Rules. In addition to the directives promulgated by the Executive Director of theState Board of Elections under G.S. 163‑132.4, the Legislative ServicesCommission may promulgate rules to implement this section. (1985, c. 757, s. 205(a);1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1074, s. 2; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 762, s. 69;1995, c. 423, s. 2; 1999‑227, s. 1; 2000‑140, s. 81; 2001‑319,s. 11; 2005‑428, s. 16; 2006‑264, s. 75.5(a).)