Citizens Redistricting Committee

A trade-off may be needed to rid New York of gerrymandering.

by Susan Lerner

LATFOR’s gerrymandering violates ‘one man, one vote.’

Two weeks ago, the legislator-led task force known as LATFOR, charged with redrawing New York state’s electoral lines, produced a set of maps that might well be described as an incumbent protection program. Both Democratic and Republican majorities went out of their way to protect their political interests to the detriment of the public interest.

Measured against three criteria, LATFOR’s maps egregiously disadvantage minority communities, abuse the federally mandated principle of “one person, one vote” and violate the constitutional provision to avoid dividing counties whenever possible. The maps completely undermine the essence of our democracy and must be revised to reflect the demographic reality of New York state.

Fortunately, there’s a solution.

In December, Common Cause/ NY produced a set of maps to offer the public, the governor and the Legislature an alternative vision of what a nonpartisan landscape might look like.

Read more: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120205/SUB/302059995

There is a farce taking place in New York these days as a legislative task force named LATFOR goes around the state holding public hearings on the plan it has drawn up for new legislative and congressional districts to reflect the 2010 Census.

Look for an opinion piece from Common Cause’s Susan Lerner in Monday’s print edition that explains how absurd the legislative plan is. I’m going to tackle the political and legal issues.

Read more: http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/blogs/greg-david-on-ny/2012/02/the-politics-and-law-of-odious-redistricting

First, New York voters are still as angry and frustrated with Albany as they were a year ago. They want the change that reforming our redistricting process represents. The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows that voters support independent

Read More: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20111002/SUB/310029995

Past redistricting has been bipartisan in that Republicans drew the Senate lines and Democrats did the Assembly maps. The minority in each chamber has never had a say, which allowed the majorities to gerrymander at will. But advocates are pushing for

Read More: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110925/SUB/309259975

Every two years, New York voters choose their representatives in Albany and Washington. But every 10 years, the lawmakers choose their voters.

Many people know of redistricting, or reapportionment, as gerrymandering—the intentional snaking of legislative boundaries through ethnic enclaves, over rivers, across county lines, and even down cul-de-sacs by incumbents and political parties to keep themselves in power.

Read more: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110921/POLITICS/110929967