SYRACUSE, NY – New York’s voting districts will look different going forward.
The state’s district boundary lines are required to be redrawn every 10 years to reflect the population of the state. Republican lawmakers were accused of rushing the establishment of the redistricting committee before the November 2nd election. This ensures that republicans hold a majority of the committee appointments. Onondaga county’s Democratic elections commissioner Dustin Czarny says the public hearings happen at inconvenient times for voters.
“We shouldn’t be doing this this quickly. We should be spacing out, having a meeting once a week, maybe once every other week, giving proper notice to the voters, and not doing it while early voting is happening. There’s an election underway.”
Czarny also says it’s not just about the timing. The people are making their position loud and clear.
“A lot of people speaking at the hearings. I think we’ve had about 25 speakers or so between the two hearings. We’ve also had a few public comments submitted in writing. Not one has been for this process. Every one has spoken out against this process, and against the current maps that have been in place for the past 10 years.”
Early voting continues through October 31st. For more information, visit Onondaga County’s Board of Election website.
