The Senate and Assembly must complete
newly drawn district lines in the first few weeks of the year, and Cuomo has threatened to veto new lines that are not drawn in a non partisan manner by an independent commission.
ALBANY — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has proposed that a commission of non-legislators should take over the once - a-decade process
of drawing district lines for the state Legislature and Congress, his aide said Monday.
While Section 2 and Section 5 prohibit jurisdictions from drawing electoral districts that dilute the votes of protected minorities, the Supreme Court has held that in some instances, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents jurisdictions
from drawing district lines to favor protected minorities.
In the past, good - government groups have criticized the majority Republicans (and Democrats who control the Assembly, and by tacit
agreement draw its district lines) for tweaking boundaries to help incumbents.
But suppose the people with the authority to
draw district lines prefer party A. Even if they are obligated to make every district have the same number of voters, they could, at the most extreme, draw 1 district that has 20,000 B's and 9 districts each with 8,889 B's and 11,111 A's.
Because so many of the state legislatures that
drew district lines after the 2010 Census were controlled by Republicans, an end to gerrymandering now would be especially challenging to the GOP.
Holding the majority in the Senate by a slim 32 - 30 margin, the
GOP drew the district lines which the Democrats says are egregiously gerrymandered to protect Republican senators.
Instead of having an independent
commission draw district lines that are concise and compact and keep communities together, we once again have politically motivated districts that snake through and divide communities in order to protect the incumbent representative's re-election prospects.
That strategy would make Senate Democrats apoplectic: They see the ability to
draw the district lines as the only thing allowing Republicans to cling to power in an increasingly blue state.
Cuomo's remarks came on the same day that the New York State Court of Appeals was hearing a challenge to the legislatures»
newly drawn district lines.
All 50 states use total population as their basis
for drawing district lines, but the challengers said the rural state Senate districts in which they lived had vastly more eligible voters than urban districts, making their votes count for less, in violation of the Constitution.
Passing a nonpartisan redistricting bill of the sort being championed by Koch would be «one of the best things to happen to Albany since the building of the Erie Canal,» said Bloomberg, who said the current system
of drawing district lines «promotes ideological extremism and reduces voter choice.»
The odds that someone trying to gerrymander multi-member districts will screw it up and end up hurting (or at least not helping) the party that they are trying to favor when
they draw district lines is much greater.
In the wake of former Mayor Koch's Albany reform press conference at which he released three signed pledges — and one letter — from gubernatorial candidates (announced and in limbo) promising to veto any politically -
drawn district lines, Sen. Craig Johnson released the following statement:
The state Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment maintains a large and expensive staff, despite being publicly silent since New York's last redistricting ended in 2012 and no longer having the power to
draw district lines.
McKee says the only thing that has done more to keep Senate Republicans in the majority over the last few decades is their ability to
draw district lines.
Why not cut to the chase and have an independent body, like the state Court of Appeals,
draw district lines every 10 years?
Republicans were given a largely free hand in
drawing district lines this year that Democrats and good - government groups say benefit incumbents and reinforce partisan advantage.
[141] In Miller v. Johnson (1995), [142] the Court explained that a redistricting plan is constitutionally suspect if the jurisdiction used race as the «predominant factor» in determining how to
draw district lines.
Lawmakers are also resisting good - government groups» call for an independent commission to
draw district lines.
In the event that a commission is unable to agree on a redistricting plan, the Missouri Supreme Court appoints a special panel of six appellate court judges to
draw the district lines.
«As the state Constitution gives the Legislature the sole authority to
draw district lines, the strongest plan would amend the constitution to establish a process that is truly fair, bipartisan and constitutionally sound.
«Senator Skelos is incorrect in claiming «the State Constitution gives the Legislature the sole authority to
draw district lines.»»
New York, despite the fact that it is dominated by Democrats, had a handful of competitive congressional races in 2012, thanks to the fact that a judge — not the state Legislature —
drew the district lines.
In addition to their fundraising advantages noted above, legislators in 2012
drew district lines that largely preserve their hold on power - a process likely to be repeated after the 2020 Census.
In the end, Cuomo came to a deal with Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats that allowed the Legislature to
draw district lines one more time in exchange for a constitutional amendment that will change the process the next time around.
The panel would
draw the district lines.
But it has meant that the Republican Senate majority has made no effort to
draw district lines to benefit Johnson.
Democratic Sen. Eric Coleman, the judiciary committee co-chairman and chief proponent of the bill, said the measure would lead to «a much more accurate and much more fair system» in
drawing the district lines.
And political cheating at its purest and most obvious is gerrymandering,
drawing district lines to maximize your party's representation in legislative bodies and minimize the number of seats your opponents can win.
McMahon says lawmakers may think that if they agree with some of the governor's agenda now, Cuomo may allow them more leeway to
draw district lines to suit their political interests.
«This goes beyond simple unity, although I believe you will agree that carving counties apart to
draw district lines is a practice that should be avoided where possible,» Picente testified.
Without the pre-clearance protection, lawmakers will not need approval next time
they draw district lines and the city Board of Elections can use the old lever - operated voting machines without seeking clearance.
This partisan pact, which would amend the state constitution to create a lawmaker - appointed 10 - person panel to
draw district lines, keeps in place the hyper - political process of allowing politicians to draw their own districts, choose their own voters and serve their own self - interests,» read Kellner's statement.
ReShapeNY wants to see the new maps vetted by an «impartial» panel applying «a clear and objective set of criteria for
drawing district lines and a public explanation as to how and why each individual district was drawn.»
Planned Parenthood is a member of the Clean Missouri Coalition, an effort to reform our democracy by banning big lobbyist gifts, capping campaign contributions, and improving the way
we draw district lines.
Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri is supporting Clean Missouri, a non-partisan effort to reform our democracy by banning big lobbyist gifts, capping campaign contributions, and improving the way we draw district lines
Planned Parenthood is supporting Clean Missouri, a non-partisan effort to reform our democracy by banning big lobbyist gifts, capping campaign contributions, and improving the way
we draw district lines.