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Voting history · North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

A dated list of changes to how Americans vote: district maps, polling places and drop boxes, voting laws and rules, and courts and election officials. Each entry says who did what and when, shows what became of it, and links to the page it rests on. Attempts that failed are listed as failed. Entries that rest on a news report name the outlet.

This is the district view: events tagged to this congressional district, then events that apply across North Carolina, then national events. An event is tagged to a district only when its source names that congressional district. See all of North Carolina.

Kind of event
Decade

In North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District

No events have been tagged to North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District yet. District events are added over time. The state and national events below also apply here.

Across North Carolina

2025

  1. Oct 22, 2025 State Maps and lines Enacted

    General Assembly gives final approval to a redrawn congressional map

    PBS NewsHour, citing the Associated Press, reported that the Republican-controlled General Assembly gave final approval on October 22, 2025 to changes to the congressional map; the litigation said the Black voting-age population in the 1st District would fall from 40 percent under the 2023 map to 32 percent. The map was drawn in a mid-decade effort that the Associated Press said targeted the state's one swing seat.

    Congressional districts named: NC-1

    Related: Federal three-judge panel denies injunctions against the redrawn congressional map

    Source last checked Oct 21, 2026

2021

  1. Nov 4, 2021 State Maps and lines Enacted

    General Assembly enacts new congressional and legislative maps

    The North Carolina Supreme Court records that on November 4, 2021 the General Assembly enacted new maps for the state's congressional districts and state House and Senate districts.

    Related: North Carolina Supreme Court strikes down the 2021 congressional and legislative maps

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

2019

  1. Sep 3, 2019 State Maps and lines Struck down

    Three-judge state court strikes down North Carolina's 2017 House and Senate maps in Common Cause v. Lewis

    On September 3, 2019, a three-judge Superior Court panel in Wake County entered judgment in Common Cause v. Lewis, No. 18 CVS 014001. The decree states: "The Court declares that the 2017 House and Senate Plans are unconstitutional and invalid because there is no reasonable doubt each plan violates the rights of Plaintiffs and other Democratic voters under the North Carolina Constitution's Equal Protection Clause ... the Free Elections Clause ... and the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly Clauses." It permanently enjoined use of the districts in specified House and Senate county groupings in the 2020 elections and directed the General Assembly to redraw them.

    Related: Supreme Court decides Rucho v. Common Cause

    Source last checked Oct 21, 2026

1996

  1. Feb 13, 1996 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects to a law barring districts from crossing precinct lines

    On February 13, 1996 the Justice Department wrote that it "must object" to Chapter 355 (1995), which would prohibit state legislative and congressional district boundaries from crossing voting precinct lines unless the districts were found to violate Section 5.

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

1991

  1. Dec 18, 1991 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects to the 1991 House, Senate and congressional plans

    On December 18, 1991 the Justice Department wrote that it "must object" to the 1991 redistricting for the North Carolina State House, Senate and congressional plans to the extent each incorporated the proposed configurations for certain areas discussed in the letter. A 1996 letter refers to these as objections to the 1991 congressional, State House and State Senate plans.

    Related: Supreme Court decides Shaw v. Reno · Supreme Court holds the 1992 version of North Carolina's 12th District unconstitutional

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

1982

  1. Apr 19, 1982 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects to revised 1982 Senate and House redistricting

    The Justice Department's list records an April 19, 1982 objection to S.B. 1 and H.B. 1, the Senate and House redistricting bills.

    Related: Justice Department objects to 1981 North Carolina Senate and congressional redistricting · Supreme Court decides Thornburg v. Gingles

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

  2. Jan 20, 1982 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects to the 1981 House reapportionment

    The Justice Department's list records a January 20, 1982 objection to Chapter 1130 (1981), the House reapportionment.

    Related: Justice Department objects to 1981 North Carolina Senate and congressional redistricting

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

1981

  1. Dec 7, 1981 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects to 1981 North Carolina Senate and congressional redistricting

    The Justice Department's list records a December 7, 1981 objection to Chapters 821 and 894 (1981), the Senate and congressional redistricting laws. The letter says it also interposed an objection to the congressional redistricting insofar as it affects the covered counties.

    Related: Justice Department objects to the 1981 House reapportionment · Justice Department objects to revised 1982 Senate and House redistricting

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

1971

  1. Jul 30, 1971 State Maps and lines Blocked by federal objection

    Justice Department objects to numbered seats in North Carolina's multimember legislative districts

    In a letter of July 30, 1971 to the State Board of Elections, the Justice Department wrote that it could not conclude that the requirement to run for a numbered seat in some multimember legislative districts under Chapter 1063 of the 1967 session laws "does not have the effect of minimizing the voting strength of black citizens living in those districts," and objected to the continued implementation of Chapter 1063 in the 39 counties covered by Section 5. In a letter of September 27, 1971 it objected to House Bill 1503 and Senate Bill 995 so far as they made Chapter 1063 apply to those 39 counties, and did not object to the other bills submitted with them.

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

Nationwide

2026

  1. Sep 10, 2026 National Maps and lines Proposed

    Census Bureau proposes residence criteria for the 2030 census that would exclude some noncitizens from the apportionment count

    On September 10, 2026 the Census Bureau, an agency of the Department of Commerce, published a proposed rule in the Federal Register (91 FR 57524, Docket No. 260903-0005, RIN 0607-AA75) that would add two new parts to the Code of Federal Regulations: residence criteria for the decennial census, and standards and restrictions for demographic questions on the census questionnaire. On residence, the notice states that "the Census Bureau proposes to include lawful permanent residents within the apportionment base, while excluding from the apportionment base illegal aliens and aliens whose legal status is less durable and indefinite in length than lawful permanent resident status," and says it is considering using administrative records to determine legal status. The comment period, first set to end October 13, 2026, was extended to November 2, 2026 by a notice published October 5, 2026. Al Jazeera and CNBC reported on the proposal, and CNBC reported that opponents expect litigation.

    Source last checked Oct 22, 2026

2021

  1. Aug 12, 2021 National Maps and lines Settled

    Census Bureau releases 2020 redistricting data for states

    On August 12, 2021, the Census Bureau released the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, which it described as delivering data for states to begin redistricting. On September 16, 2021, it released the same data in an easier-to-use format on data.census.gov and delivered a toolkit to states.

    Source last checked Oct 22, 2026

  2. Apr 26, 2021 National Maps and lines Settled

    Census Bureau announces 2020 Census apportionment results

    On April 26, 2021, the Census Bureau announced that the 2020 Census resident population of the United States on April 1, 2020 was 331,449,281, and that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo delivered the population counts used for apportionment of the U.S. House to the President.

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

1967

  1. Dec 14, 1967 National Maps and lines Enacted

    Congress requires single-member congressional districts (Public Law 90-196)

    Public Law 90-196, approved December 14, 1967, provides that in each state entitled to more than one Representative "there shall be established by law a number of districts equal to the number of Representatives to which such State is so entitled," with "no district to elect more than one Representative."

    Source last checked Oct 20, 2026

How this timeline is built

Every entry rests on at least one source that was opened and read, and that source states the date and the fact. Courts, legislatures, election offices, the Justice Department, the Census Bureau, the Federal Register and Congress.gov come first. A news report is used only when no official page states the fact, and it is labeled with the outlet's name. Encyclopedias are not used as sources. History starts in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act. County names come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer. Congressional district numbers are those in use for the 2026 election; an event is tagged to a district only when its source names that congressional district.

When a later event changes an earlier one, such as a law later struck down, both entries are listed and point to each other. This page does not predict outcomes or say which party a change helps. U.S. House maps for 2026 · Back to the 2026 voting center.