Redistricting Ruling Creates Chaos.
Last Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals (in a 4-3 decision) struck down the congressional and State Senate districts drawn by the legislature and approved by Governor Hochul in February. Instead of allowing the legislature to draw a new set of lines, the Court appointed one man - a consultant - to draw the new lines. The deadline is May 20th.
This creates chaos and confusion around upcoming elections. As of now, there will be two primary dates this summer. The gubernatorial and Assembly primaries will be on June 29th, as originally scheduled. But the congressional and State Senate elections are likely to be held on August 23rd, pending other Court action.
The New York Democratic Lawyers Council wrote this in an email about the ruling:
"We asked national redistricting expert, Jeffrey M. Wice, to weigh in on The Court of Appeals decision. Here's the latest:
This week's New York Court of Appeals decision to invalidate the new congressional and State Senate maps breaks with decades of state court precedent. The Court has long provided the state legislature with great leeway when enacting redistricting maps, relying on the policy decisions made by the legislature in developing maps. Accordingly, the court has upheld redistricting maps based on the premise that laws enacted by the legislature should be given strong presumptions of constitutionality.
The constitution provides for the legislature to redistrict. By not allowing the legislature to redraw new congressional and state senate maps, the court is shifting responsibility for redistricting from the legislature to the courts."
Stay tuned for more information about new lines, election dates, and other voter information as it becomes available.
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