2011 North Carolina General Statutes
Chapter 163 Elections and Election Laws.
Article 12A - Precinct Boundaries.
163-132.1. Participation in 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program of the United States Bureau of the Census.

163‑132.1. Participation in 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program of the United States Bureau of the Census.

(a) Purpose. The State of North Carolina shall participate in the 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program, conducted pursuant to P.L. 94‑171, of the United States Bureau of the Census, including Phase I (Block Boundary Suggestion Program) and Phase II (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 able to revise districts at all levels without splitting precincts and in compliance with the United States and North Carolina Constitutions and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended.

(b) Phase I (Block Boundary Suggestion Program). The State shall participate in the Block Boundary Suggestion Program of the United States Bureau of the Census so that the maps the Census Bureau will use in the 2000 Census will contain adequate features to permit reporting of Census data by precinct for use in the 2001 redistricting efforts. The Legislative Services Office shall send preliminary maps produced by the Census Bureau in preparation for the 2000 Census, as soon as practical after the maps are available, to the county boards of elections to determine which of their precincts have boundaries that are not coterminous with a physical feature, a current township boundary, or a current municipal boundary, as shown on those preliminary 2000 Census maps. The Legislative Services Office shall:

(1) Assist county boards of elections in identifying the precincts with boundaries not shown on the preliminary Census maps and in identifying physical features the county boards may wish to have available for future precinct boundaries;

(2) Place those boundaries 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. Census all physical features the county boards have identified as current or potential precinct boundaries; and

(4) Request the U.S. Census Bureau to hold for census block identification in the 2000 U.S. Census all other physical features already on 1990 Census maps.

(c) Phase II. The State shall participate in Phase II of the 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program so that, to the extent practical, the precinct boundaries of all North Carolina counties will appear on the 2000 Census maps or database. The State's effort shall be conducted as follows:

(1) By January 1, 1998, or as soon thereafter as they become available, the Legislative Services Office shall provide the county boards of elections with access, on paper or electronically, to the Census Bureau's maps for Phase II of the Census Redistricting Data Program.

(2) After receiving the maps, the county boards of elections shall designate their precinct lines along the lines the Census Bureau indicates on the maps it will hold as block boundaries for the 2000 Census. Where necessary, the county boards of elections shall alter precincts, including any precincts approved under the provisions of G.S. 163‑132.1A, 163‑132.2, or 163‑132.3 or designated by local act, to conform to lines the Census Bureau indicates it will hold as Census block boundaries as shown on the official block maps to be used for the 2000 Census and to consist only of contiguous territory. The county boards of elections, at a time deemed necessary by the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections, shall file with the Legislative Services Office the maps on which they have designated their precincts pursuant to this subsection.

(3) After examining the maps, the Legislative Services Office shall submit to the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections its opinion as to whether the county board of elections has complied with the provisions of this subsection, with notations as to where those boundaries do not comply with these standards.

(4) If the Executive Director determines that the county board of elections has complied, he shall approve the precinct boundaries as filed and those precincts shall be the official precincts.

(5) If the Executive Director determines that the county board of elections has not complied, he shall not approve those precinct boundaries but shall alter the precinct boundaries so that each precinct consists solely of contiguous territory and that each precinct's boundaries are coterminous with 2000 Census block boundaries nearest to the precinct boundaries shown by the county boards on the maps. These altered precincts shall then be the official precincts.

(6) Upon the adoption of a resolution by a county board of elections and instead of altering precinct lines as required by G.S. 163‑132.1(c)(5), the Executive Director may combine for Census reporting purposes only two or more adjacent precincts of the county into a Combined Reporting Unit, if the Executive Director finds that:

a. The boundaries of the Combined Reporting Unit conform with the Census block boundaries as shown on the official block maps to be used in the 2000 Census;

b. The Combined Reporting Unit consists only of contiguous territory;

c. The precincts of which the Combined Reporting Unit consists were bounded as of January 1, 1996, by ridgelines, as certified on official county maps by the county manager of the relevant county, or if there is no county manager the chair of the board of commissioners, and the boundaries failed to comply with subdivision (2) of this subsection only because those ridgelines were unrecognized as Census block boundaries in the 2000 official Census maps;

d. The Combined Reporting Unit does not contain a majority of the territory of more than one township; and

e. To alter those precinct boundaries would result in significant voter dislocation.

If the Executive Director recognizes a Combined Reporting Unit for specific precincts, the official boundaries of those individual precincts forming the Combined Reporting Unit shall be those which the Legislative Services Office submitted to the Executive Director under subdivision (3) of this subsection.

(7) The Executive Director shall file the completed maps with the Census Bureau and request that the Census Bureau provide summaries of 2000 Census data by precinct and Combined Reporting Units.

(d) Freezing of Precincts.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 163‑132.3, after the Executive Director approves the precincts in accordance with subsection (c) of this section and before January 2, 2002, no county board of elections may establish, alter, discontinue, or create any precinct except by division of one precinct into two or more precincts using lines that the Census Bureau has indicated it will use as 2000 Census block boundaries for that division. Provided that, whenever an annexation ordinance adopted under Parts 1, 2, or 3 of Article 4A of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes, or a local act of the General Assembly annexing property to a municipality, becomes effective during the period beginning with the date of the annexation as reported through the U.S. Census Bureau's 1998 Boundary and Annexation Survey or a subsequent edition of that survey and ending January 2, 2002, and any part of the boundary of the area being annexed which is actually contiguous to the city is also a precinct boundary for elections administered by the county board of elections then the county board of elections may exercise one of the following options:

a. Direct by resolution that the annexed area is automatically moved into the "city precinct", provided that if the annexed area is adjacent to more than one city precinct, the board of elections shall place the area in any one or more of the adjacent city precincts.

b. Adopt a resolution moving the precinct boundary to a line that the Census Bureau has indicated it will use as a 2000 block boundary.

(2) The Executive Director of the State Board of Elections may permit during the freeze a correction to a county's precincts as they were approved pursuant to subsection (c) of this section where one of the following sets of conditions is present:

a. A precinct was designated pursuant to subsection (c) inaccurately, and the United States Bureau of the Census agrees to include the corrected precinct on its database for the 2000 Census.

b. The boundary of a precinct designated pursuant to subsection (c) of this section was subsequently removed by the United States Bureau of the Census as an acceptable feature for a precinct line based upon a determination by the Bureau that the feature did not exist as shown, and the county board of elections agrees by resolution to an alternative boundary for the precinct on a feature the Bureau does find acceptable.

(3) The county board of elections may move a precinct line from a township line to another line the Census Bureau has indicated will be a 2000 block boundary if a Boundary and Annexation Survey issued during the freeze shows that the township line has moved to a location the county board of elections considers unsuitable. This subdivision does not apply if local legislation enacted by the General Assembly governs the relationship between a county's township lines and precinct lines.

(4) The county board of elections shall submit any proposed change made during the freeze under this subsection to the Legislative Services Office, which shall review the proposal and write a letter advising the Executive Director of its opinion as to the legal compliance of the proposal. If the proposal complies with the law, the Executive Director shall approve the proposal. No newly created or altered precinct boundary is effective until approved by the Executive Director as being in compliance with the provisions of this subsection.

(d1) Right to Postpone Effective Date Until January 1, 2000. A county board of elections may postpone the effective date of the precincts designated in Phase II until January 1, 2000.

(d2) Special Permission to Postpone Effective Date Until January 1, 2001. The Executive Director may permit a county board of elections to postpone the effective date of precinct lines designated under Phase II until January 1, 2001, upon written application by the county board of elections, if the Executive Director finds both of the following:

(1) That the Phase II‑designated lines would create a split precinct in 2000 for county commissioner, board of education, judicial, State legislative, or congressional district elections and that a split could be avoided by using the pre‑Phase II precinct.

(2) That the county can provide reasonably reliable voter registration data for April and October of 2000 by the Phase II‑designated precincts.

In granting an exception under this subsection, the Executive Director shall allow an exception only for the precincts that would result in splits and for any adjacent precincts for which pre‑Phase II precincts must be used to avoid geographic overlap or discontinuity. Every county board of elections granted an exception under this subsection shall provide to the State Board of Elections voter registration data for April and October of 2000 by the Phase II‑designated precincts.

(e) Municipal and Township Boundaries. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (c) and (d) of this section, the county boards of elections may designate precinct boundaries on municipal or township boundaries that are not designated on the 2000 official Census block maps, according to directives promulgated by the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections and adopted to insure that all precincts shall be included on the 2000 Census database.

(f) Additional Rules. In addition to the directives promulgated by the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections under G.S. 163‑132.4, the Legislative Services Commission 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).)