Denis Slattery is reporting for the Daily News Steuben County Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister on May 20 approved the congressional and state Senate maps drawn up by a court-appointed expert. The new districts were finalized one month after the state’s highest court rejected the maps drawn up by Democrats. “Unfortunately some people have encouraged the public to believe that now the court gets to create its own gerrymandered maps that favor Republicans,” McAllister wrote in his approval filed near midnight. “Such could not be further from the truth. The court is not politically biased." Thousands of letters poured into the court calling on the judge to amend the maps before finalizing them. The maps created by the Democrats would have given the party an advantage in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts. Now, the newly proposed lines include eight competitive districts. The new lines will be in place for the next decade. New York’s congressional and state Senate primaries were rescheduled to August 23. Assembly and gubernatorial primaries are still scheduled for June 28. A federal lawsuit attempting to combine the state’s primaries in August was filed on May 19, by the League of Women Voters. That suit argues the Board of Elections unlawfully certified primary ballots for statewide races, including the governor’s race, since candidates collected signatures based on the now defunct congressional maps. Democrats could initiate another legal challenge against the new maps, further complicating the process and adding to the uncertainty surrounding the state’s primaries. Read more in the Daily Freeman.