This week we learned that, in a 4-3 decision, the New York Court of Appeals ordered the state to draw new Congressional districts ahead of the 2024 elections.
While we agree the court’s decision is in accordance with law, we fear repeated redistricting will become a normalized game in New York politics, adding to an already polarized constituency and creating confusion at the polls.
Republicans aren’t happy with the decision, but we wouldn’t expect them to be. The truth is, Republicans got lucky in 2022 when the independent commission failed to do its job.
Here is how the mapmaking process is supposed to work:
In 2014, the state constitution was amended to change the way our political maps are drawn. Rather than allowing the legislature to draw the maps, a bipartisan independent commission would be responsible for creating them.
The commission is supposed to draw up a map that makes sense and send it to the legislature for a vote. If the legislature votes the map down, the commission goes back to the drawing board and tries again. If the map is rejected a second time, the legislature gets to draw district lines.
Last year, when the commission met, members couldn’t agree on a map.
They failed in their duty to the voters of this state. Rather than trying to work through the problem, they deadlocked. Shame on them.
So, the state legislature drew up a map heavily favoring Democrats. That map was thrown out by the Court of Appeals for violating the state’s prohibition against partisan gerrymandering.
The remapping was ultimately done by a court-appointed “special master.” That map was used for the 2022 midterms and that was that.
Some argue the final map was more fair and competitive. The Democrats who lost their seats in 2022 would likely disagree. As would we.
Our state constitution is pretty clear on how the situation should have been handled. We would hope those on both sides of the aisle can recognize the fact that this situation was messy and improperly handled.
We also take issue with the fact that the 2022 commission was made up of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. That may seem like a silly thing to take issue with but we do — and here is why.
Our state is not made up of equal parts Democrat and Republican voters. Shouldn’t the commission more closely resemble the makeup of New York voters? Further, a 50/50 partisan split makes a stalemate almost inevitable.
Although our surrounding counties tend to vote for more conservative candidates, it’s no secret New York state skews left. We, as a state, have not voted Republican in a presidential election since Ronald Reagan.
Our congressional maps aren’t the cause of the blue hue of our state — the densely populated urban areas are.
Like it or not, they make up the bulk of our voters.
So when we say 2022 Republicans got lucky, it’s true. Good for them.
But now it’s time the maps are done correctly.
We sincerely hope the Independent Redistricting Commission does its job and comes to a consensus as to where the lines should be drawn and leave the gerrymandering out of it. We also hope the commission is more representative of the state’s voters and filled with open-minded individuals who are more interested in creating a map based on reason, rather than simply arguing their party lines.
Above all, we hope the redistricting stops. No one wants to go through this process every two years — and we aren’t meant to. This debacle needs to come to an end and save our state further embarrassment.
The Daily Star, Oneonta