By Jeff Wice and Alexis Marking
REDISTRICTING
Orange County Legislature Advances New Map
On a 5 to 2 vote last week, the Orange County Legislature’s Rules Committee approved a draft map for new county legislative districts that will be sent to the public for comment. The meeting follows a June meeting when several members walked out, preventing the committee from taking earlier action. The public comment period runs from August 2 – August 16 for the public to submit comments via email or by USPS to the Clerk of the Legislature and a public hearing will be scheduled for August 15 at 5:00 PM. The final map will be submitted to the legislature’s Rules Committee on August 21 and, if it passes there, will go before the full Legislature for approval on September 5. The new map will be used in the 2025 election cycle.
VOTING RIGHTS
Mount Pleasant State VRA Pre-Motion Conference Scheduled
A pre-motion conference is scheduled in Westchester County State Supreme Court on August 6 via TEAMS at Noon. In this case, a group of voters is seeking to change the way the Town of Mount Pleasant’s town board is elected based on allegations of vote dilution under the town’s current at-large scheme. The town’s attorney opposed the “overbreadth” of requests being made by the plaintiffs’ counsel for information relating to the town’ industrial development agency. The town is also seeking to quash deposition requests being submitted to the town. As a result, the plaintiffs are seeking a pre-motion conference to permit to the court to make further determinations on their requests. On July 18th, the town indicated that it may be willing to permit limited depositions and the plaintiffs are now requesting time to work out matters with the town, so the pre-motion conference may be subject to further scheduling changes.
More Civil & Family Court Judgeships Created
Governor Hochul signed Chapter 204 of the Laws of 2024 to increase the number of judges in family court to 67; adds twelve additional judges to the civil court in New York City; and adds additional family court judges to Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Erie, Jefferson, Nassau, Rensselaer, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
This chapter takes effect immediately, and requires these positions to appear on the November 5, 2024 General Election Ballot.
Certificates of nomination for judicial candidates are due “not later than thirty days after the June primary or election or ten days after the creation of such vacancy, whichever is later.” See Election Law 6-158 (6).
Here, the date ten days after the creation of the vacancy would be later than thirty days after the June primary. Accordingly, certificates of nomination are due Monday July 29, 2024 (rolling from 27th which is a Saturday).
Vacancies Created:
New York City Civil Court Judges:
New York County, Bronx, Kings and queens (three additional)
Family Court Judges (outside NYC):
Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Erie, Jefferson, Rensselaer, Rockland, Westchester – one additional judgeship in each county
Suffolk and Nassau (two additional judgeships in each county)
(information provided by the NYS Board of Elections)
AROUND THE NATION
MISSISSIPPI: A federal 3-judge panel has updated the Mississippi Legislature’s timeline to enact new state legislative maps that comply with the Voting Rights Act. Earlier this month, the panel struck down Mississippi’s legislative maps for diluting Black voting power in several districts. The state can now wait until 2025 to redraw these districts.
The judges ruled on July 2 that new districts must be set before the regular legislative session begins in January but have now shifted this timeline. As a result of this decision, Mississippi will no longer be required to hold special legislative elections in November 2024. Also, the current legislators will likely now serve 2 out of their 4-year terms in the districts where the judges ruled that Black voting power was diluted.
The N.Y. Elections, Census & Redistricting Institute is supported by grants from the New York Community Trust, New York Census Equity Fund, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the New York City Council. This report was prepared by Jeff Wice & Alexis Marking.
REDISTRICTING INSTITUTE RESOURCES
The New York Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute has archived many resources for the public to view on our Digital Commons Page.
Our Redistricting Resources page contains resources on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act. You can access the page
here: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/redistricting_resources/
Archived Updates can be accessed
here: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/redistricting_roundtable_updates/
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