Cooper calls for early special elections under new legislative voting maps
As the legal wrangling continues over North Carolina's legislative districts, Gov. Roy Cooper on Monday had sharp words for the state's lawmakers: If they don't act, the courts should.
Posted — UpdatedCooper issued a statement calling for new voting maps and special elections before the 2018 legislative session, saying, "North Carolina shouldn’t hold another session or have another budget voted on by an unconstitutional legislature."
"Maps should be drawn this month and an election held before next year’s legislative session. If the legislature doesn’t do its job soon, the courts should," Cooper said in a statement Monday.
Republicans say Cooper's call for a special election is predictable.
"He’s continually trying to interject himself into a situation that is being handled by the courts at the present time, and the General Assembly will follow the court’s directions," Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger told WRAL News Monday evening.
"I know why he’s doing it," Berger, R-Rockingham, added. "We keep hearing that the Democrats want to take politics out of redistricting, but it seems to me all he wants to do is put politics into the redistricting decision."
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