Redistricting reaction adheres to party lines

Nassau County unveiled a method of redrawing legislative districts last week — a Republican-led plan that would figuratively uproot many voters and replant them in politically unfamiliar territory.

The procedure would add a large section of Merrick and a small piece of Bellmore to a district dominated by Baldwin, and would remove all but a sliver of Rockville Centre and South Hempstead from it. The sliver, a political peninsula of sorts, would slice Baldwin into two noncontiguous sections, Baldwin and Baldwin Harbor. Under the new plan, a sizable chunk of southern Freeport would also be added to the reconfigured district.

The redrawn area, as envisioned by its planners, would be represented by Legislator Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin). Scannell would lose constituents in Rockville Centre but gain them in Merrick, Freeport and Bellmore. His territory, however, would be merged with that of fellow Democrat Dave Denenberg — a notion Democrats say is aimed at making the two men split the vote.

The plan is currently being lauded by Republicans and criticized by Democrats. Democrats accuse Republicans of staging a cartographical coup, while Republicans claim they are only acting in accordance with a law that requires redistricting in the six months following a census.

District history

The Nassau County Legislature was formed on May 24, 1994, after U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt had ruled in 1993 that the county’s longstanding Board of Supervisors was unconstitutional because it violated the Constitution’s one-person, one vote rule. A 19-district Legislature was created to replace the Board of Supervisors. The Legislature’s first election took place in November 1995, and legislators took office for the first time on Jan. 1, 1996.

The county charter mandates that the Legislature’s lines be redrawn every 10 years to ensure that the population of legislative districts remains roughly equal, at 70,000, and that minority residents are fairly represented. Legislative lines were last redrawn in 2003, by a Democratically controlled Legislature.