A State Supreme Court judge has ruled that Onondaga County must redraw its legislative district lines before the next election in 2025. Now lawmakers must decide how far the changes should go.
The judge ordered the new maps in the wake of a lawsuit brought by Onondaga County Democrats. The suit revealed the county didn’t use updated information that included incarcerated individuals, so maps didn’t live up to state rules about how many people should be in each district.
Democrat Chris Ryan thinks this is a good opportunity to review maps Democrats claimed were unfair and gerrymandered to allow the GOP to retain its legislative majority.
"How do we produce maps that don't senselessly or needlessly break up communities of interest?” Ryan said. “Like for instance, we need to put the Manlius back in Manlius, and I'll keep going with a lot of different ones, right? So that's the process. We need to make sure that the process ensures, that that doesn't happen again."
Republican Legislature Chairman Tim Burtis says lawmakers will begin the process to redraw district maps soon. He expects only minor adjustments to be made without a wholesale redrawing of lines.
"We have to look at the incarcerated people, approximately 1,400-1,600 people, and we have to address that,” said Burtis. “Not really interested in opening a whole can of worms up again."
The county legislature will be required to hold a public hearing on the new maps. Burtis says they’ll be in place by next year when all county legislators are up for reelection.
