New York’s Independent Redistricting Commission has released first drafts of congressional, state Senate, and state Assembly district lines following the 2020 census.

With commission Democrats backing one set of plans, and commission Republicans backing another, it’s easy to surmise that somewhere partisan politics has entered the fray. At that, some appear to be shocked – just shocked.

They shouldn’t be shocked, given how New York – with voters’ approval – amended the state Constitution in 2014 to create the commission.

The word “Independent” in the commission’s name may give the misimpression that partisan politics won’t drive redistricting.

Although New York took some steps to prevent that, it can still happen.

The commission has 10 members. The Senate president pro tempore, the Assembly speaker, the Senate minority leader, and the Assembly minority leader each appoint two. Those eight jointly appoint two more.

So if the eight are savvy about appointing the two, the Commission should have an equal number of members inclined toward each major political party, which can be good, because it can allow partisan forces to cancel each other out if the process is structured well.

Then the commission gets to work.

With commission approval, the commission’s task is to submit a first redistricting plan and implementing legislation to the state Legislature by Jan. 15. In voting on these, neither the Senate nor the Assembly may amend them.

If the first submission doesn’t become law, the process repeats itself. The deadline for the commission’s second submission is 15 days after receiving notice that the first submission didn’t become law, or Feb. 28, whichever is earlier.

However, if the commission approves no redistricting plan by Jan. 1 – or as soon thereafter as practical, whatever that means – then the commission submits to the state Legislature any plans receiving the highest number of commission votes. The legislature then votes on these plans.

So what if this process doesn’t lead to enactment of a redistricting plan from the commission?

Here’s an answer from Article III, Section 4(b), of the state Constitution: “If either house (doesn’t) approve the legislation implementing the second redistricting plan, or the governor (vetoes it) and the legislature (doesn’t) override such veto, each house shall introduce such implementing legislation with any amendments each house of the legislature deems necessary.”

In other words, the whole legislature takes over.

Now, suppose that you’d prefer that the whole legislature – rather than members of a bipartisan commission – draw congressional, state Senate, and state Assembly district lines.

Perhaps because your party has the majority in one or both houses, and you stand to be better off – maybe way better off – with the whole legislature drawing lines.

What might you do?

That wouldn’t be hard to figure out: You might try to make sure the commission approves nothing, or that the legislature or the governor rejects whatever the commission approves.

Either option could well let the whole legislature take over.

Which would, in turn, give legislators an opportunity to draw lines for their own districts and put incumbents from other parties, or challengers from other parties, at a disadvantage.

Which is how redistricting worked before New York had the commission.

So no one should be shocked if now we get partisan gerrymandering like what we got before New York had the commission.

Regardless of which political party has the majority in either house, the whole legislature shouldn’t be drawing congressional, state Senate, or state Assembly district lines. An up-or-down vote on a bipartisan commission’s proposal can be fine. But the whole legislature shouldn’t have the power, or even merely the ultimate power, to draw lines.

It’s just too much temptation.

And make no mistake: Democrats hold the reins of power in Albany now, yet given an opportunity, it’s likely that some in whichever political party holds the reins would try to put incumbents from other parties, or challengers from other parties, at a disadvantage.

Chautauqua County resident Randy Elf’s August 2021 column on congressional redistricting is at https://www.post-journal.com/opinion/2021/08/keep-erie-niagara-counties-separate/

Keep Erie, Niagara Counties Separate

Congressional-redistricting time is upon us. This column in July 2020 made a case for again keeping a Southern Tier/Finger Lakes district as intact as is practical and not combining any of the Southern Tier with any of Erie County and perhaps also Niagara County. During every past redistricting except one, we in the Southern Tier […]

COPYRIGHT © 2021 BY RANDY ELF.