Editorial: Sound off on electoral maps
"The Steam Shovel": That's what some in political circles are calling the redrawn 20th State Senate District in Brooklyn, a example of the odd shapes that electoral districts can take. Credit: New York State Legislature
Long Islanders will get a chance to comment on a legislative commission's proposed electoral maps for State Senate and Assembly districts at a public hearing 11 a.m. Thursday at the William H. Rogers Legislative Building in Hauppauge.
This is the best opportunity residents of Nassau and Suffolk counties will have to comment on the highly politicized process that created the maps, the fact that so many legislators reneged on pledges to back a nonpartisan redistricting commission, and the new districts themselves.
Partisan redistricting is among the least sexy forms of political manipulation, in terms of raising the ire of the public, and it's among the most destructive. Until voters express enough outrage about the practice at forums like this to scare politicians, it's not going to change.
