Residents raise redistricting concerns at rules meeting

After waiting nearly five hours Monday afternoon, residents opposed to a Republican plan to redraw district lines for the Nassau County Legislature finally got the chance to be heard by the Legislature’s Rules Committee. The plan would reshape a number of districts while merging others, such as the 5th and 19th districts, which are now held by Democrats Joseph Scannell and David Denenberg, respectively.

The Legislature’s Democratic minority raised concerns about the legality of the Republicans’ move to redraw the map at the current time and charged that the GOP-led effort is politically motivated.

The county charter, Democrats said, calls for legislative districts to be redrawn every 10 years. The last map was drawn in 2003. But Republicans said that Section 112 of the charter dictates that once Census data is released, a law must be passed “to describe the 19 county legislative districts.”

Judy Jacobs, a Democratic legislator from the 16th District, said that simply means the Legislature must establish that 19 districts do indeed exist, but a map need not be immediately drawn. Democrats argued that waiting to redraw district lines would allow for better analysis of Census data, as well as the establishment of a nonpartisan redistricting advisory commission.

The rush to change the district map is unacceptable, Jacobs said. ”Map drawing is a very, very specific art that takes a very long time,” she said. “It’s disgraceful, it’s a slap in the face at the people of Nassau County, and it’s a slap in the face of government, which should be bipartisan when you’re drawing lines.”