— More than two dozen people complained to lawmakers Wednesday about their effort to redraw the state's 13 U.S. House districts after a state court ruled that the congressional map drawn in 2016 cannot be used in next year's elections.

Most of the 25 speakers during a public comment hearing held by the Joint Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting said lawmakers either were using data they shouldn't, such as the race or voting histories of residents, to draw district lines or were crafting maps outside of public view. But some said the redraw shouldn't even be taking place at all.

"It is not fair to our state and its citizens, when the losing party – I don't care which party it is – who cannot be persuasive through the ballot box runs like little children to federal or state judges and, in football terms, gets them to order our General Assembly to move the goalposts because they're dissatisfied with the outcome," said Wayne R. Boyles III, of Pinehurst, a one-time aide to the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

"Our founders used this document called the Constitution. They made gerrymandering a legislative process, and they did it for good reason – it's called accountability," said Jay DeLancy, director of the Voter Integrity Project. "Gerrymandering is partisan by definition, and it is a legislative power. ... It's time for you to take back your constitutional power. Say no to the courts."

A three-judge panel two weeks ago blocked the current congressional district map from being used in 2020, saying voters who challenged its legality were likely to win their case that the map was drawn with too much of a tilt toward Republican candidates. A similar challenge to state House and Senate districts led to lawmakers redrawing those maps in September.

The judges urged lawmakers to redraw the congressional maps in a less partisan way, but they didn't set out any rules for the process. Lawmakers said they wouldn't use racial or political data to draw the maps, but there was no court order barring them from getting outside expert advice.

The joint House and Senate committee generated 18 possible congressional maps last week and planned to turn them over to individual committees in each chamber without any recommendation, allowing those panels to evaluate the various options and make their own choices.

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, the Senate's point main for redistricting, said Tuesday that House and Senate leaders haven't yet agreed on a plan and that the two chambers will likely choose different maps. In that event, he said, the differences would go to a conference committee.

Several speakers during Wednesday's public comment session said lawmakers violated their own rules by choosing a base map that had racial and political data baked in already.

"Voting maps are not for politicians. These are the people's maps, and the people of North Carolina should have a greater voice in this process," said Dianna Wynn, president of the League of Women Voters of Wake County. "Political data should not be part of the process, but we have no assurance that committee members or staff did not consult political data outside the room at some point."

Other speakers likewise charged that lawmakers weren't totally transparent in the map-making effort.

Cheryl Tung, of Raleigh, noted that some committee members would print out reams of maps, leave the room where new districts were supposed to be drawn in public and return later to incorporate a raft of changes.

"While the actual drawing of the maps was more transparent, this process only served to provide the public with an opportunity to watch continued partisan gerrymandering occurring in real time, in front of the cameras rather than behind closed doors," Tung said. "Gerrymandering done in public is still gerrymandering."

Still others complained that lawmakers spent much of their effort in recent days shifting district lines so incumbent members of Congress wouldn't be pitted against one another.

"Some of these maps resulted in districts that are more unusual than the gerrymandered districts they purport to replace, creating fingers and feet and all manner of geographic appendages to protect some politicians and pack others," said Jen Jones, campaigns director for left-leaning Democracy North Carolina.