Keep pushing for fair maps

Members of the state’s first-ever bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission have worked intensely behind the scenes this holiday season to craft an equitable new set of 10-year maps for congressional, State Senate and Assembly seats.

The panel was supposed to issue such a set of maps for public hearings in September, but punted. Instead, differing versions were published — one set of lines favored by Republican members, another preferred by Democratic members. That became an ominous sign.

The commission held hearings on the separate plans. The double vision forced upon those testifying about different plans complicated the hearings, tempering confidence in a process with big design flaws.

Some problems were unique to 2021. Not only had COVID-19 delayed the issuance of the U.S. Census numbers needed to start the process, but deadlines written into the constitutional amendment creating it seven years ago didn't anticipate state primaries in June, rather than September, as previously done.

So it's crunchtime.

Our best hope at the moment is that, having gone through another season’s worth of public hearings, commission members will finally put their collective imprint on agreed-upon districts that are compact and uniform in population and that cut through towns, villages, counties and school districts as little as possible. Both sides showed effort in recent weeks to fulfill that mission.

The law calls for the commission to submit its plan to the Legislature "on or before" Jan. 1 — or at least "no later than Jan. 15." Vice Chairman Jack Martins from Nassau County rightly noted last month that the panel had best meet the earlier, New Year's deadline.

While the Democratic-dominated legislature in Albany has the power to edit and thus undermine the commission's work, the panel should still negotiate honest and impartial lines. Punting again would mean the commission lets legislators off the hook, free as ever to draw maps that best serve themselves. If those maps end up redrawn under court supervision — as happened before — an impartial commission version should at least form a baseline to guide the final product.

As George Hoffman, president of the Setauket-based Three Village Civic Association, aptly urged the panel in his testimony Nov. 30: "You have a real responsibility to get ahead of partisan considerations."

Long Islanders ought to know as soon as possible how the 10-member commission proposes to handle several hot issues. What districts cross the border with Queens? Are ethnic communities to be kept intact across political jurisdictions? What changes await the congressional districts that Reps. Tom Suozzi and Lee Zeldin say they will vacate next year?

The commission can still shape the final outcome in a positive way — if it reaches a fair consensus on all three maps. Failure to do so would generate more cynicism about political manipulation — the very thing the panel was created to snuff out.