For too long, our communities have been sliced and diced for partisan advantage. We deserve accurate and accountable representation, and we deserve a say when it comes to drawing the next decade of district lines that will represent our communities. 

Right now, legislators who control redistricting are planning only one public hearing in Raleigh following the release of draft maps that could determine our representation for the next decade. This one event will be inaccessible for most North Carolinians — and that is wrong. We deserve better than this. Our zip code should not determine whether or not our voices are heard in this process. 

Every North Carolinian deserves to have their voice heard in this process. We need public hearings after draft maps are released that are accessible — both in-person and online — to every North Carolinian regardless of whether they live in a large city, small town, or tribal territory. 

I am calling on my representatives and the entire Joint Redistricting Committee to ensure that the public has accessible, safe opportunities to comment on draft maps. Without doing so, there is no way they can claim that this year’s process was truly transparent.

Jean Wright

Franklin