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Redistricting vote expected next week

Jan 27, 2022 1:55 pm

Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that Democrats controlling New York's legislature plan to vote on new redistricting maps this coming week. New York's redistricting commission of Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a bipartisan agreement on district boundaries for the state Senate, Assembly, and U.S. House of Representatives. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie released a statement together on Jan. 26. "The statutory deadline for the Independent Redistricting Commission to submit congressional and state legislative maps has passed," the lawmakers said in the statement. "As per the New York State Constitution, it becomes the Legislature’s responsibility to consider fair maps that ensure all New Yorkers have equitable representation in their government. That is a duty we take very seriously. Given the expedited nature of the political calendar, we fully expect the Senate and Assembly to consider new fair maps in a timely manner. The plan is to vote on these maps next week." Democrats are deciding because they hold the majority in the state legislature. The election commission was set up so legislators would not be drawing their own district lines, but, obviously failed to do that. Locally, candidates such as Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro have already announced an effort to unseat Rep. Antonio Delgado, but neither of them know what district exactly they are running to represent until the lines are drawn. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.