Usually, there are two years between elections when it comes to choosing state representatives and senators for the North Carolina General Assembly. Less than two months ago, voters elected such legislators.

But in late November 2016, a federal three-judge U.S. District Court panel, after determining the state’s legislative districts are racially biased, ordered the state to redraw 28 of those state House and state Senate districts. That order follows a ruling in the summer of 2016 that Republicans in the General Assembly unconstitutionally relied on race when they drew the existing district boundaries in 2011.

None of the districts to be withdrawn affect Beaufort County, which is part of state Senate District 1. Part of the county is in House District 6, with the remaining part of the county in House District 3.

The new ruling requires the redistricting be completed by March 15, with a special election set for November of this year rather than November 2018. That means some legislators elected in 2016 will be forced to run again, in the newly redrawn districts, after serving a one-year term, not the usual two-year term. The filing period for those candidates would begin in late summer of this year, according to several sources.

The court’s order requires the state to hold special primary and general elections in the fall of this year, with the primary to be conducted in late August or early September.

“While special elections have costs, those costs pale in comparison to the injury caused by allowing citizens to continue to be represented by legislators elected pursuant to a racial gerrymander,” judges James Wynn Jr., Thomas Schroeder and Catherine Eagles wrote in their ruling.

The special primary and special election ordered by the court are being taken in stride by the Beaufort County Board of Elections, which faces several challenges in the 2016 election cycle. “If 2016 has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t predict what the legislature and courts will ultimately decide. Every time we felt like we were on top of things, the rules would change and we would have to start all over again. And just like last year, I’m confident that we can handle what ever happens,” wrote Kellie Harris Hopkins, Beaufort County’s elections director, in written statement sent to the Daily News on Monday.

The judges also wrote in the order: “This gives the state a total of seven months from the time the districts were held to be unconstitutional, which is longer than it took the 2011 legislature to redistrict the entire state.” The ruling also requires lawmakers to submit new maps to the court within seven days of passage.

The state has appealed the court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Republicans Rep. David Lewis and Sen. Bob Rucho, in a joint statement issued after the ruling was issued, described the ruling as a “politically motivated decision, which would effectively undo the will of millions of North Carolinians just days after they cast their ballots.”

The court’s order, in part, reads: “The Court recognizes that special elections typically do not have the same level of voter turnout as regularly scheduled elections, but it appears that a special election here could be held at the same time as many municipal elections, which should increase turnout and reduce costs. A special election in the fall of 2017 is an appropriate remedy.”

The state House districts to be redrawn include districts 5, 7, 12, 21, 24, 29, 31, 32, 33, 38, 42, 43, 48, 57, 58, 60, 99, 102 and 197. State Senate districts to be withdrawn include 4, 5, 14, 20, 21, 28, 32, 38 and 40.

To comply with the court’s order to avoid racial gerrymandering, other districts could be redrawn.