Slate: N.C. tops in gerrymandering

Elbridge Gerry would be proud of North Carolina.

A piece in the online magazine Slate this week included four of the state's districts in its list of the 20 "Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts" in the country.

The districts include the First, held by Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield; the Second, held by Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge; the Third, held by Republican Rep. Walter Jones; and the 12th, held by Democratic Rep. Mel Watt. 

An accompanying article notes that computer programs have made it easier for legislators to gerrymander districts that fit their needs.

"As the amount of information and computing power available to the gerrymanderers has ballooned, they have gotten much better at surgically crafting districts to their precise desires," it says. 

North Carolina had the most districts of any state in Slate's round-up. California and Pennsylvania each had three districts, Maryland and Illinois had two, while Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Texas each had one.