Citizens Redistricting Committee

State lawmakers have not yet released their proposed maps for new district lines. A government reform group has tried to fill the void by releasing its own set of maps that it says are a model for non partisan districts.

Sue Lerner, with Common Cause, says her group has released proposed maps of legislative districts that it says are non partisan, and are based on grouping regions and neighborhoods with similar characteristics together.

Read More: http://wxxinews.org/post/reform-group-proposes-what-it-says-are-non-partisan-maps

ALBANY, NEW YORK (WXXI) -
A new poll out Thursday finds that many New Yorkers want a fair method for redrawing district lines.

A Quinnipiac poll out Thursday finds that 50% of those surveyed think the new legislative and congressional district lines, required every ten years when new census numbers come out, be completed by an independent commission to prevent gerrymandering. Only 13% says the legislature should be redrawing the lines. 26% say it would be acceptable if an independent body received input from the legislature.

Read More: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1839367/WXXI.Local.Stories/Independent.Redistricting.Could.Result.in.Less.Gridlock..Expert.Says

Republicans in the State Senate this week changed their position on the counting of state prison inmates for drawing new legislative district lines, required every ten years. The decision on how to count prisoners is just one of many challenges facing the GOP as they struggle to maintain their one vote lead in the Senate in the next elections.

The 2012 elections for the state legislature will be influenced, more than anything else, by the mandatory redistricting process, required every ten years after a new census.

Read More: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1837023/WXXI.Local.Stories/Redistricting.Could.Decide.Which.Party.Controls.Senate.

Senate Republicans appear to be changing their minds about how they would like to count prison inmates when they redraw New York’s new district lines.

The Senate GOP, which holds a slim one vote majority in that chamber, is suing to challenge a new 2010 law that says prison inmates must be counted in their home legislative district, not where they are imprisoned, largely in upstate penitentiaries. In the past, The GOP had used the prison population to boost numbers for their own districts.

Read More: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wxxi/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1836468/WXXI.Local.Stories/Senate.GOP.Seems.to.Reverse.Stance.on.Inmate.Count.in.Redistricting