Statement on Proposed Amendment to Allow Mid-Cycle Redistricting

New York’s Motto Is “Ever Upwards,” Not “Let’s Race Texas to the Bottom and See Who Can Disenfranchise More Voters”

New York’s Democratic leaders have responded to extreme gerrymandering in Texas by supporting an amendment to the State Constitution that gives the State Legislature the power to draw congressional districts. New York’s Democrats freely proclaim the whole point of the amendment is to allow them to gerrymander district lines to create the maximum possible number of Democratic congressional districts, thus partially counteracting what Texas is doing. 

To us, this sounds a lot like the infamous army commander who said, “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”

New York is not going to save American democracy through extreme gerrymandering that deprives huge numbers of New York voters of a meaningful voice. Locking in one-party rule in New York using undemocratic and fundamentally unfair laws will undermine public confidence and hurt the health of our democracy.

How the proposed gerrymandering amendment works

While the proposed constitutional amendment is far from becoming a reality – it must pass in two consecutive legislative sessions and then be approved by voters – it puts the power to redistrict mid-cycle directly in the hands of the State Legislature. The amendment would allow the majorities in the Senate and Assembly to directly redistrict congressional lines mid-cycle if another state does so outside of a court order, bypassing the current commission process. While the commission established in the State Constitution has failed to produce independent district lines, allowing the State Legislature to draw congressional lines behind closed doors gives no guarantee of a better process.

Independent, fair redistricting is a foundation of a healthy democracy

If the Governor and Legislature want to amend the State Constitution regarding redistricting, they should go back to the drawing board to fix the broken commission process and put New York voters first by creating a truly independent commission – not further entrench politically-motivated redistricting into the State Constitution.