'You'd better get it right'.

Byline: Janet Conner-Knox

June 24--"Get it right or we'll have to take it to court," warned Jim Leathers, Democratic chairman in Martin County when he spoke at the public hearings on redrawing legislative lines. "We'll have this in court for the next few years if it's not done right. So you'd better get it right."

Thursday was the first of three public hearings scheduled for North Carolina residents to give feedback on what they think of some of the new legislative lines drawn that will be in place for the next 10 years.

Every 10 years after the census is taken legislators have the task of drawing new district lines according to population growth and movement.

In North Carolina, 40 counties fall under the federal Voting Rights Act, meaning when the lines are drawn there has to be a majority minority status. …