Agency finds errors in district lines

A board of elections canvasser testified in federal court Wednesday that new legislative lines adopted last month by the Nassau County Legislature include multiple errors that must be corrected by lawmakers before the map can be implemented.

Fred Hagemann, who has spent 16 years with the elections agency, said the map includes streets that do not exist and roads that fail to intersect where they are supposed to.

The board must map the new legislative districts according to the "metes and bounds" -- essentially the boundaries of the area -- contained in the redistricting legislation. The errors, however, made it impossible to map all of the new legislative districts, Hagemann said.

"We were unable to complete our work," said Hagemann, who was subpoenaed to testify by Frederick K. Brewington, attorney for four minority residents who filed the suit. The suit alleges that the new lines violate the civil rights of some minorities.

Also Wednesday, a state court judge gave Republicans until June 27 to answer Democratic claims that the election board cannot map the new lines because of the errors, effectively putting off any decision on the overall legality of the redistricting process until after that date.

Hagemann said he and his team found mistakes in 12 of 19 legislative districts, according to a letter sent Monday to the legislature by Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner William Biamonte.

Democratic officials say the map must go back before the legislature, where a technical correction bill would be necessary to fix the errors.

On Tuesday, County Attorney John Ciampoli responded to Biamonte's complaints, noting that "the map defining the districts takes precedence over any technical deficiencies in the metes and bounds description. Accordingly, your staff should be instructed to rely on the map as adopted by the legislature."

Ciampoli said his staff would review any potential errors but that Biamonte's staff should proceed with implementing the plan.

With Celeste Hadrick