Legislator Vincent Muscarella (R-West Hempstead) said it’s a matter of law: the census data came out more quickly than expected, prior to the 2011 election, and the Legislature is bound by law to redistrict within six months of its release. According to Muscarella, the county attorney said this mandate takes precedence over another county charter mandate that requires a temporary advisory commission to draw up and review advisory redistricting maps a year and a half before the general election of county legislators to be held in 2013.

How the districts change

As for the proposed lines themselves, Muscarella believes they correct shifts in population that have rendered the current districts technically illegal.

“There’s no question that the proposed lines meet the constitutional requirements to more equally provide for equal representation of the various county residents,” he said. “As the populations and the maps stand now, we are out of deviation a substantial amount more than what the Supreme Court has said is acceptable.”

Under the new lines, Muscarella, who represents Legislative District 8, would gain all of West Hempstead, half of Franklin Square and portions of Hempstead and East Garden City. He would lose Floral Park, a sliver of Elmont and Garden City South.

If the new lines are approved, Troiano would gain a large section of Old Westbury and a part of East Meadow. He would lose all of Lakeview, a piece of West Hempstead and part of Salisbury. He claims the redistricting would dilute the strength of minority voters in his district, which is designated as one of two minority districts in the county. Whereas LD2 is now 53 percent black and Caribbean-American, under the new lines it would be only 38 percent.