Albany Legislators Solely Responsible for Creating Fair and Representative Maps

 

Albany legislators voted down the Independent Redistricting Commission’s maps. Now, the maps head back to the commission, which has two weeks to reconfigure and resubmit plans for another shot at lawmakers’ approval. The Independent Redistricting Commission released two sets of draft maps after failing to reach bipartisan consensus earlier this month. The maps detail the districts for New York’s congressional and state legislative seats. With the Democrats holding a very narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, these maps will have a national impact.  Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director of NYIC Action, issued the following statement: “We worked too hard to ensure immigrants were counted in the census to have our efforts undone by bureaucrats with a political agenda. Albany lawmakers must use all public input submitted to the Commission through the fall and hold a hearing for public comment after they finish drawing their maps and before they vote on them. Immigrants and communities across New York State deserve fair districts, and this is our one chance to get them this decade. Our State Legislature must deliver for New Yorkers and draw maps that are inclusive of all public input and protect minority voting rights and ensure fair representation for all.”    Background: NYIC Action is the lead facilitator of the Mapping Our Future campaign, a statewide coalition of 100+ grassroots organizations engaged in sustained and sophisticated political advocacy to protect immigrants and communities of colors’ power in the redistricting process.