New York State Assembly approves redistricting map

OSWEGO, N.Y. — Americans remember filling out the 2020 Census years ago, now the effects of that survey will be affecting the representation of New York state in the assembly.  

Vaughn Golden, politics and government reporter at WSKG Public Media, explained that Assembly districts are the smallest ones for the state legislature.

“Up in Oswego, I believe they only encompass about an entire county,” Golden said. “So as far as residents being represented in the state legislature, the assembly districts really are their most direct way to interact with state lawmakers.”

Those lawmakers have a smaller geographical area to cover and a smaller population to cover, so it’s their more direct approach to the state legislature,” Golden said.

The process to pass the new district lines took many years for its creation and its approval by the state representatives.  

“This all goes back to a slew of lawsuits that started in, I believe, February of last year in 2014, the state constitution was amended. It went before a ballot measure before the voters of New York to change the way redistricting is done in the state after the 2010 cycle. So this was the first time going through this in 2020. A number of plaintiffs who were backed by Republicans challenged congressional and state Senate maps in court. And ultimately that lawsuit led to those maps being overturned,” Golden said. 

Two-thirds of the new district map is 99% the same as it was before, according to a researcher from the CUNY graduate center for urban research.