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Independent Redistricting Commission unveils new Assembly map
Ryan Whalen reports for New York State of Politics that New York State's Independent Redistricting Commission released yet another proposed Assembly map for the state Legislature to approve on April 20. Last year, the bipartisan commission could not agree on a map and instead sent two different maps of state Senate, Assembly and Congressional lines, which the Legislature rejected. Then Albany lawmakers drew their own maps of their own districts. Voters used those maps for the 2022 elections. Now, the legislature is considering changing all that for the 2024 elections. Republican Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay thinks the new map will be approved by the Democratic-led legislature. He said, "I'm happy this is done and I suspect this thing will get passed next week.” But the new map is almost identical to the one the legislators made. New York Public Interest Research Group Executive Director Blair Horner said, "It does raise the question though, how independent is the redistricting commission if they come up with maps that more or less match the ones made by lawmakers." If the map is not approved by the Legislature or the governor the commission will have until June 16 to create yet another one, and if that's struck down, lawmakers draw yet another map. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.