Redistricting commission fails first test

The NYIRC has officially released the first drafts of redistricting maps. Screenshot via YouTube

By Rachel Vick

The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission failed its first test Wednesday, the day it had promised to deliver the first draft of its new electoral maps.

Instead of releasing one set of Congressional, State Senate and Assembly District maps, the NYIRC failed to reach a bipartisan agreement and ended up releasing two sets of maps.

In school, the first draft of an essay can be near perfection, ready to go with just a few grammar fixes, and other times they get handed in with the author fully expecting a sea of red corrections — commission members described their take as closer to the latter.

“They should be only considered what they are called in the constitution — drafts,” said Commission Chair David Imamura. “I will be the first to say that these plans are imperfect and with public input they can, should and will change.”

“We need you to step up a second time,” Imamura added. “This concept will only work with your input.”

He said that meeting the deadlines under the extreme circumstances of the pandemic — including delayed census results — was a challenge, but that they did their best in the one month window.

Vice Chair Jack Martins criticized the commission's inability to reach a bipartisan agreement, saying that it should have been one map.

“I see our responsibility and members of this commission as putting aside partisan differences and having to work to find common ground,” Martins said. “It is not about map a or map b, it's about whether or not we did our job in properly identifying communities of interest, in properly respecting communities that have been historically disadvantaged in complying with [constitutional] conditions.”

Each set of maps has different potential districts drafted, and Queens residents will be able to weigh in on what they think works, what needs to be better and who might have been left out during a public hearing on Nov. 17.

The New York Independent Redistricting Commission released two sets of draft maps. Maps via NYIRC

The two maps were not named for the Republican or Democratic drawers, but rather one was named “letters” and the other named “names.”

In the “letters” map, Queens is broken up into more districts than the broader “names” map, where the Rockaways, Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Long Beach, Long Island make up one district.

In “letters” Rockaway is divided down the center, with Arverne and Edgemere part of the same district as Southeast Queens, and Belle Harbor with parts of Brooklyn.

In 30 days the commission will begin the second round of public hearings before revising the maps, which will then be sent to the State Legislature for approval or disapproval.

If the legislature rejects the map twice, it then becomes their responsibility of the lawmakers to draw the districts — a future that seems likely to election lawyer Jerry Golfeder.

“I think that when the New York Constitution was amended several years ago it was contemplated that this commission would produce one set of lines acceptable to everyone,” Goldfeder said. “It's unfortunate that it did not occur even though there’s no doubt everyone worked very hard. My guess is that the legislature will have to draw the lines.”

The New York Independent Redistricting Commission released two sets of draft maps. Maps via NYIRC

The commission members voted to release the maps, though a number of them did so begrudgingly — like Charlie Nesbitt, who echoed Martins’ disappoint and voiced his own concern for precedent — other members remained assured that with the next round of public input, a cohesive map would come together.

“While we do present two drafts… this does not mean we won't have consensus maps at the end of this process,” said Dr. Ivelisse Cuevas‐Molina. “It is my hope that as we move forward into the public hearings process and we hear from the people… this will give us the basis, the thoughts of our communities to come together and move forward together.”