With the 2012 elections less than a year away, the New York State Legislature has not yet enacted the redrawing of New York’s district lines for State Legislature and U.S. House of Representatives seats following the 2010 census.

State legislatures must redraw electoral districts every 10 years to account for shifts in population reflected in the federal census. Redistricting is typically a contentious political issue, as parties that hold majorities in state legislatures often seek to redraw districts to better ensure their party’s electoral success, a process known as gerrymandering.

“It looks to me as if the New York Senate lines have been used either to protect the Republican Party or to protect the Republicans, given that the Republicans have held the majority for about 45 years,” said Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at Binghamton University who specializes in voting rights and districting.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called this year for an independent commission to be established to carry out the redistricting, supposedly to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

The Legislature has resisted, however. In November, Sheldon Silver (D), the Assembly speaker, proposed having a bipartisan commission appointed by the Legislature but made up of non-lawmakers handle the redistricting, according to a report in The New York Times.

LAWSUIT ASKS FEDERAL COURTS TO INTERVENE IN NEW YORK DISTRICTING

A group of community leaders filed a lawsuit against Gov. Cuomo and leading state legislators in November at the Federal District Court in Brooklyn asking the court to step in and take over a stalled redistricting process.

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Howard Leib, is considering petitioning to run for office in New York’s 51st senatorial district because he lives on the district’s far western border. He has been unable to do so thus far, however, while district lines remain to be determined, putting him at a disadvantage because he cannot begin campaigning, the lawsuit alleges.

“You need to know where your district lies and who your voters are if you are going to make the crucial decision of whether to run for office,” said Daniel Burstein, an associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Burstein said that in failing to reform the districting process, legislators currently in office have reneged on campaign promises.

“Legislators have been too slow to act,” Burstein said. “This case is about independent redistricting, when the legislators were running for election in 2010 they promised to reform this absurd process whereby the legislators draw their own lines to ensure reelection. We’re asking the courts to do the same thing legislators promised.”

NEED FOR REFROM SEEN

Donna Lupardo, the assemblywoman for the 126th district, which includes BU, is a co-sponsor of an Assembly bill that would establish an independent redistricting commission.

“It’s a politically charged issue,” Lupardo stated in an email. “We should draw lines that make the most sense for the electorate and not purely for the re-election interest of incumbents.”

McDonald said he did not think an independent redistricting commission would be sufficient to guarantee non-partisan districting.

“It’s not about intentions, it’s about results and until you get a standard by which you can judge the results, I’m not going to have any more faith in a non-partisan districting commission,” McDonald said.

OTHER VOTING ISSUES COMPLICATE 2012 ELECTIONS

Further doubt about New York’s 2012 elections have been cast by the Department of Defense’s rejection in November of the state’s application for a waiver from a new federal requirement that state’s conduct their primaries for federal offices at least 45 days before the general election, according to a report in the Press & Sun-Bulletin.

In addition, a law the State Legislature passed in April about how prisoners should be counted in the population for districting purposes has led to another lawsuit and further political impasse.

The law requires prisoners to be counted as residents in their home district prior to incarceration rather than as residents in the place of their incarceration.

Brian Kolb (R), the minority leader of the New York State Assembly, stated in an email that he thinks the new prisoner reallocation law violates the New York State Constitution.

“Any redistricting plan advanced under the provisions of the law enacted last year faces lengthy and costly legal challenges,” Kolb wrote. “In addition, there has been a strong outcry against such a change from our local communities who believe that since their utilities and emergency services with the inmates housed there, they should be counted as residents.”

BINGHAMTON’S CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT SEEN AS GERRYMANDERED

George Phillips, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House in New York’s 22nd congressional district, which includes Binghamton, said he believes gerrymandering has had a significant effect on how this district is shaped. The 22nd district extends along the Pennsylvania-New York border from Newsburgh to Ithaca, bisecting Broome County.

“I think our district is part of the challenge that people get very cynical about when it comes to redistricting,” Philips said.

Josh Zingher, a doctoral candidate in BU’s political science department, said that “the only way” to explain the shape of NY-22 is partisan gerrymandering designed to protect current incumbent Maurice Hinchey (D) from losing his congressional seat.

“He would have lost the last election if it weren’t for Ithaca [being added to his district], and probably by a wide margin,” Zingher said. “Establishing how to look at his district and establish how it is not a partisan gerrymander is a tall task.”

Zingher is developing his own redistricting plan for New York as part of a competition sponsored by Fordham University. He said the key to fair redistricting is drawing competitive districts.

“Even the districts Republicans win now, they’re overwhelmingly not competitive. They’re designed to protect incumbents,” Zingher said. “I think the overall takeaway is don’t draw districts that look like bug splats on a windshield and draw districts where both parties have a good chance to win.”