By Reinvent Albany
State Democratic Leaders Exploit National Partisanship to Restore Gerrymandering of State Legislative Districts
Amendment guts process and criteria that protect New York voters from the worst political impulses of state legislative incumbents
Reinvent Albany opposed the proposed amendment last year to allow mid-cycle redistricting.
We are now confronted with something far worse than expected: an amendment introduced by the Democratic leaders in each house to not only allow the State Legislature to unilaterally redraw congressional lines midcycle, but also permanently gerrymander their own lines every 10 years.
The proposal from New York’s Democratic leaders is not just a response to GOP congressional gerrymandering in other states – it is a cynical power grab by state leaders to exploit a hyper-partisan political environment to forever gerrymander their own lines.
Before the introduction of this amendment, New York’s Democrats proclaimed that the point of amending New York’s Constitution would be to allow them, like California, to create the maximum possible number of Democratic congressional districts, counteracting what GOP states are doing.
The latest amendment goes far beyond this narrow political goal, and well beyond California’s response. California’s new maps are only for congressional lines, were approved directly by voters, and do not change the citizen redistricting process used every 10-year cycle.
Additionally, a companion bill has been introduced to allow the Legislature to draft the submission and abstract that will go before the voters when considering this amendment – a major departure from the current, bipartisan NYS Board of Elections process.
Changes Further Weaken Commission, and Gut Criteria
Rather than improve the independent commission process – which has been paralyzed by gridlock and is not truly independent – to give it a better chance of working, the amendment gives the commission one shot to draw lines. This can easily be rejected by the majorities in both houses.
If the commission’s maps fail, the State Legislature has free rein to draw its own lines, as well as congressional lines. Additionally, if a court finds violations in any district lines, the Legislature can correct the violations, not the commission.
Beyond weakening the commission, the amendment also inexcusably changes the criteria for drawing both congressional and state legislative districts at any time – not only midcycle, but also during the regular, 10-year cycle. The amendment guts objective criteria for congressional and state legislative lines by:
- Removing anti-partisan gerrymandering language, i.e., not discouraging competition, or favoring or disfavoring incumbents, candidates, and political parties
- Removing the requirement that the commission explain why districts are not equal in size; and
- Removing compactness criteria
We continue to think extreme gerrymandering in New York – including for state legislative districts – would be a big mistake that would deprive millions of New Yorkers of a meaningful vote, vastly accelerate the destruction of democratic norms, and fuel public cynicism.
The post NY Exploits National Partisanship to Restore State Legislative Gerrymandering appeared first on Reinvent Albany.
