The Onondaga County Legislature’s Republican majority approved only slight modifications to the district map for next year’s election cycle. Democrats wanted a lot more to change.
Republicans were quick to mention before the party-line vote that they only had to slightly re-draw the map according to the narrow parameters set by a legal settlement, and nothing more.
“This is an exercise that was more or less defined and dictated by the courts," May said. "The stipulation and order required us to add a population of incarcerated individuals into the current map. That is the scope of our responsibility.”
GOP floor leader Brian May says he doesn’t want to dismiss those who have concerns about the map. Democrats like Maurice Brown was one who says the map has flawed district lines and needs a lot more work. For instance, he says his 15th district is all chopped up.
“I have parts of the Meadowbrook neighborhood. I have parts of the university neighborhood. I have parts of the Outer Comstock neighborhood. I have parts of the valley," Brown said. "I have parts of the Elmwood neighborhood. I have parts of Strathmore and I have parts of the south side. It's really confusing when I meet with people and they ask me, 'do you represent me?' I literally have to get out a map every time.”
Legislator Nodesia Hernandez adds she’s not the only one who represents the Town of DeWitt.
“Constituents feel like they don't have a representative into it because of the four representatives," Hernandez said. "They feel like they don't know who to go to, and it really confuses our constituents and our voters.”
Fellow Democrat Charles Garland was part of the lawsuit filed in 2022 that led to the required changes. In retrospect, he says they should have added more teeth to their case alleging the maps were gerrymandered by Republicans and broke up minority voting blocs.
“There was no mention of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, there was nothing about splitting or diluting our vote or anything," Garland said. "But the reality is all they had to do with tweaking a few things, and that’s what they did.”
Garland says it’s not clear if the county’s Democratic party will consider another lawsuit.
