New York redistricting commission releases draft Assembly maps

ALBANY — The bipartisan panel tasked with drawing up New York’s political boundaries reached a consensus on Thursday and released draft Assembly district lines.

The Independent Redistricting Commission voted during a public meeting to move forward with the new map ahead of a Friday deadline set after an appellate court ruled the current lines were drawn up unconstitutionally.

A series of public hearings will begin next month before the map can be adopted ahead of the 2024 elections.

“I know I speak for the entire Commission when I say we are thrilled to have a unified redistricting plan,” newly elected chairman Ken Jenkins said in a statement. “I urge the public to review this plan and to submit their comments either in writing or attend a public hearing.”

The maps represent the latest chapter in New York’s drawn-out redistricting saga that began when the 10-member redistricting commission deadlocked in January and the Democrat-led Legislature took the lead on crafting maps for Congressional boundaries as well as state Senate and Assembly district lines.

That led to a Republican-backed lawsuit that resulted in the state’s highest court striking down the Dem-drawn House and Senate maps. New York was forced to host two separate primaries, in June and August, as the process played out.

The redrawn Assembly districts were deemed unconstitutional by a five-judge appellate court panel in June although the courts still allowed the scrapped maps to be used for the June primary and November’s general election.

Courts at all levels in the state concluded that Democrats gerrymandered congressional maps to favor themselves and violated a 2014 constitutional provision creating the independent commission meant to take politics out of the redistricting process.

Democrats retained control of both the state Senate and Assembly but lost several House seats to Republicans in the general election last month.