After weeks of wrangling the Nassau County Legislature has approved the Republican majority’s redistricting proposal on a narrow party-line 10-9 vote. The vote came just hours before the legal deadline for choosing a map.
The redistricting is mandated every 10 years following the U.S. census. Like always happens, the minority party in the county Legislature, in this case the Democrats, is protesting that the Republican majority redrew the lines to solidify their political control.
Had they been given the opportunity, the Democrats would have done the same.
The Republicans replied that the map was designed to adhere to legal standards, the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. If you believe that …
With local elections coming up in November, including the position of the county executive, the clock was ticking. The Democrats are threatening to challenge the redistricting in court.
They shouldn’t bother. What’s done is done. The Democrats need to stop complaining about the past and get to work on the future.
The county now has 10 years to set clear standards that will avoid a repeat of this fiasco.
The Legislature needs to create clear nonpartisan standards for drawing district lines that can revive fading voter confidence in the democratic process. That won’t be easy but it shouldn’t be impossible.
