Editorial: Politics taints New York redistricting

The current redistricting of New York State Senate and Assembly seats is a politicized mess, but the redrawing of new electoral maps for the U.S. House of Representatives seems to be far worse. If Albany legislative leaders don't release those maps soon, it might be impossible to hold congressional primaries on time.

From drawing 27 congressional seats all the way down to setting up districts for counties like Nassau and towns like Hempstead and Brookhaven, the redistricting required by law following the 2010 Census is dissolving -- or is at risk of dissolving -- into a series of gerrymandered disasters. The refusal of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) to let a nonpartisan commission draw the new maps has put the state in a precarious situation. Not only are they disenfranchising voters, they won't allow the election system to operate properly.

The new maps for congressional districts won't be out before early March, according to a key member of the legislative committee in charge of drawing them. Members of Congress, many of whom have hired lobbyists to protect their interests, are particularly anxious over this year's redistricting, as New York State drops from 29 congressional seats to 27. Many say they have been given no idea how their new boundaries will look.

As Assembly Democrats requested, federal Judge Gary Sharpe ruled that congressional primaries should be moved up to June 26 to give absentee voters, particularly soldiers overseas, adequate time to return their ballots. Senate Republicans opposed the June date. This judicial order sets up a costly and confusing extra primary in addition to the Republican presidential one on April 24, and primaries for state offices on Sept. 11.

If the new congressional maps don't come out soon, the required review by the U.S. Justice Department, party nominating conventions and the filing of petitions won't happen in time for a June 26 primary.

And that's assuming the maps aren't vetoed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has promised to reject gerrymandered maps. They could also be challenged in court by incumbents or constituencies who claim the maps shortchange them. The State Senate and Assembly district maps released on Thursday have already been challenged in court. The first lawsuit, filed yesterday by Senate Democrats, challenges the increase of seats in the Senate by one, to 63. Rules on when a district is added are arcane, and the fact that the new seat was added upstate rather than in faster-growing New York City is an astoundingly brazen play by Senate Republicans. More lawsuits are expected from minorities on Long Island and in Rochester, Buffalo and New York City, who claim they are disenfranchised.

Skelos and Silver have made it clear they won't produce good maps without a fight, and the pushback to improve the process has begun. In the case of the congressional districts, though, it seems we can only demand they produce their bad maps faster, so the lines can be rejected and improved in time to elect new leaders.