Citizens Redistricting Committee

Every decade following the decennial census, states across the country engage in the process of redistricting. State legislators draw new district boundaries for state legislative and congressional seats to reflect changes in population. While the district maps almost always contain new convoluted shapes to reflect population changes, the process remains static: partisan and political.

Read More: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/03/only_a_constitutional_change_w.html

The lengthy process to redraw election district lines in New York that will guide politics for the next decade is expected to get longer.

Two state officials say the Senate’s Republican majority and the Assembly’s Democratic majority likely won’t be able to submit their redistricting proposals by midnight Monday. That was the deadline to get a vote on the new election districts lines by March 1.

Read More: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/showdown_looms_over_redistrict.html

The first thing wrong with today’s hearings in Syracuse on the new legislative district lines proposed by Albany is the 3 p.m. scheduled time. Maybe lawmakers and lobbyists can gallivant around the state for hearings during business hours. But except for the jobless, the idle rich and the odd shift worker, this is not a convenient time for constituents.

Then again, this process is not about accommodating constituents. Two other factors are key: protecting the best interests of incumbent state legislators, and preserving the Democratic majority in the Assembly and the narrow Republican advantage in the Senate.

Read More: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/02/serving_whom_redistricting_hea.html

The news release from the New York State Senate majority called the proposed maps of Senate and Assembly districts released Thursday “fair” and “legal.” The maps unveiled after months of secrecy were the result of “an open and transparent process,” the statement declared. The new districts “protect minority interests” and “maintain ‘communities of interest’ together whenever possible … .”

Nonsense. The proposed districts on the whole are little better than the existing ones. As before, the political masters of the process paid less attention to the interests of New Yorkers than the well-being of chosen incumbents and the Democratic majority in the Assembly and slim Republican lead in the Senate.

Read More: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/01/flawed_process_and_product_pro.html

Syracuse’s two state senators won big in the state’s redistricting proposal, with a well-entrenched Republican inheriting a new but more conservative district and a black sheep Democrat losing rural areas in exchange for more liberal-leaning neighborhoods within the city.

The new maps, should they withstand the next few weeks of public hearings, a possible veto by the governor and expected challenges in court, signal more than rewards for incumbents John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, and David Valesky, D-Oneida.

Read More: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/syracuse_sens_john_defrancisco.html

As Albany lawmakers and potential candidates await the release of new maps defining legislative districts, there is at least one sign today that the information will be made public before Monday.

The task force in charge of redistricting has called for the first public hearing on the new maps to be at 10:30 a.m. Monday in Albany.

Presumably, the public will have proposed Senate and Assembly maps to comment on by then.

Read More: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/no_redistricting_maps_today.html

In adopting the independent commission model for legislative redistricting, New York would not be venturing into unknown territory. Iowa has had independent redistricting since 1981. Iowans now are preparing for their fourth round.

read more: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/01/wheel_already_invented_death_b.html

Here’s a nightmare scenario: How would you like three primary elections in New York this year?

The presidential primary is April 24. A new law requires the primary for federal offices be at least 45 days before the general election, so service members overseas have time to vote absentee. But the state primary traditionally is in mid-September — too close to Election Day in November.

Read More: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/01/politics_vs_people_so_far_whee.html

Syracuse, N.Y. — In early January, New York’s political leaders will unveil the maps that will shape legislators’ fates for the next decade.

Despite campaign promises of a more independent and less political redistricting process, Democratic leaders from the Assembly and Republicans from the Senate are poised to soon release maps designed to ensure each political party will retain its power in each legislative chamber.

Read More: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/redistricting_could_make_re-el.html

Syracuse, N.Y. — In the past, it’s been the politicians who mainly draw, and then redraw, their own political boundaries.

Now, thanks to computer programming and a push from some university researchers, anyone with Internet access can do it.

At least that’s the theory, according to Fordham University’s 2012 New York Redistricting Program. Fordham is asking college students from across the state to use “District Builder,” software from George Mason University, to create new legislative and congressional maps.

Read More: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/software_allows_citizens_to_ta.html

Syracuse, N.Y. — New York’s efforts to redraw state Legislature and congressional districts kicked off in Syracuse today with the first of a dozen public hearings about the future of political representation in Albany and Washington, D.C.

Most who testified – local political officials, business leaders, community workers and campaign volunteers – argued for one thing: Keep the 25th Congressional District whole, with Syracuse as its center.

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http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/post_453.html