The N.C. Supreme Court ordered House District 18 be redrawn.
In Pender County vs. Bartlett, the majority ruled that the legislature was wrong to break up that county in order to give minorities in the area a larger voice in choosing state lawmakers.
The state can do so, however, in counties that were designated under the Voting Rights Act.
Under that 1965 law, 40 of North Carolina's 100 counties were designated as having discriminated against minority voters, based on their use of literacy tests and their rates of registered voters at the time the act was passed.
Pender County, in blue, is not covered by the law, but two neighboring counties are.
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