Voters to get say on new Legislative maps

Nassau County residents will get a chance to offer their input on the makeup of the County Legislature’s 19 districts at a series of public forums that begin next week.

Redistricting, which is required every 10 years following the release of census data, means that the county’s legislative districts will likely look different beginning in 2014. Their representatives will be elected in November 2013, and some residents could find unfamiliar names on the ballot if the lines shift.

A 10-member Temporary Districting Advisory Commission has been formed, and members will consider public input when drafting the new legislative maps. There are five Republicans and five Democrats on the commission as well as a non-voting chairman.

Frank Moroney, the chairman, said he looks forward to hearing what the public has to say. “It’s a fact-finding enterprise right now to hear what the people want to tell us,” he said. “Hopefully this will bear some fruit.”

Moroney said that one problem could be conflicting public testimony of people in the same community who want different results. But it is the job of the commission to consider all of that public input as it puts a map together, he said, which will ultimately go to the Legislature for approval.

It is Moroney’s hope that the Republicans and Democrats on the commission will be able to work together to devise a plan. He said that if the members can’t reach an agreement, there are two possibilities for resolving an impasse. Each party could create its own map, leaving the Republican-controlled Legislature to choose a plan, or the commission could decline to send along any plan, putting redistricting in the hands of the Legislature.

Moroney said he doesn’t want to face either of these scenarios, and that he wants the voting members of the commission to work in good faith. “I would hope that there would be some honest brokering going on.”

Any map the commission creates, however, can still be changed by the Legislature, which has the final say on the maps. The commission’s deadline is Jan. 5.