In a 9-8 vote Friday, the Onondaga County Legislature approved a map that redraws all 17 legislative districts in the county.
This did not come without opposition though. Prior to the vote, all six Democrats on the legislature spoke out against the map, detailing how it would impact their districts and condemning the process as rushed and partisan.
“It's not even about politics, it's not even political,” said Vernon Williams, Jr. “It's about people and community interests and making the best thing for Onondaga County residents and keeping the minorities with a true voice. This map does not do that.”
Williams, a Democrat representing District 16, said the new map would significantly decrease the minority population in his district. He said that combining Syracuse’s south side with Downtown and some of the University area–which the new map will do–does not align with the County Charter’s goal of maintaining common interests.
“Mr. Chairman and people said ‘we were going to make minor tweaks,’” said Williams. “This isn’t a minor tweak. This is a huge tweak to the 16th district.”
Fellow Democrat and Minority Leader Linda Ervin, who represents parts of Syracuse and Dewitt, said the map unnecessarily broke up Dewitt into four legislative districts.
“I don't see this as being any better for the people of Dewitt,” said Ervin. “What it does, basically, is dilutes the voting status there in that town, and changes the complexion of that district to the point that it might seemingly look like an all-white district–which is certainly not something that we need to be doing.”
One legislator–Majority Leader Brian May–did speak in favor of the map and the reapportionment process.
“By charter, this legislature relies on the recommendation of the [Reapportionment] Commission and the county attorney that indicates that the lines have been drawn responsibly and legally,” he said, adding that he urges his colleagues to follow those recommendations and move forward with the map.
Ervin quickly stepped up after May to motion to table the vote for at least 30 days to allow more analysis of the map. The motion was denied in a 9-8 vote. The legislature went on to approve the map in a 9-8 vote with Chairman David Knapp–a Republican who sat on the Reapportionment Commission–making the deciding vote. Two Republicans–James Rowley and Ken Bush–joined the six Democrats in voting against the map.
This decision came just over a month after the Reapportionment Commission was formed on October 8. The commission was comprised of four Republicans and two Democrats with each party submitting draft maps. For the past month, the commission meetings have been a brawl between the two political parties, specifically Democrat Dustin Czarny–the Democratic Elections Commissioner for the county–and Republican Kevin Hulslander–County Executive Ryan McMahon’s former campaign lawyer and chairman of the commission. Both men argued in favor of their proposed maps, often yelling over and interrupting each other.
Also in the past month, residents have had six public hearings to comment both on the redistricting process and the proposed maps. With as few as seven speakers at one hearing and as many as around 30 at another, nearly every resident condemned the redistricting process as “rushed” and the Republican-drawn map as gerrymandered.
On November 3, in a 4-2 vote, the commission voted to advance the Republican-drawn map to the legislature.
At the most recent public hearing, which took place after the commission’s vote, 27 residents spoke directly to the County Legislators urging them to vote against the proposed redistricting map. Many residents said that the map would disenfranchise voters and felt their opinions were not being taken into consideration throughout the reapportionment process.
A number of residents also cited a bill New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed which requires self-chartered counties, like Onondaga County, to more strictly follow state redistricting guidelines. It has been alluded both by residents and county Democrats that after the map passes, Democrats will use this bill to pursue legal avenues in hopes of revoking the new map.
While the reapportionment process only took roughly a month–a timeline set by Commission Chairman Hulslander–the commission actually had until as late as February to submit a draft map. This timeline was the root of several residents’ frustration with both the commission and the legislature.
The new map will go into effect in 2023.
