Residents can voice their thoughts Tuesday on proposed district maps for the Onondaga County Legislature.
The Legislature will hold a public hearing about the redrawn maps in the Legislature chambers at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The maps were proposed after Democrats sued in 2022 to change the maps drawn by county Republicans.
The county’s Republican legislators released new legislature district maps Nov. 4, one day before Election Day. Their maps are the latest step in the years-long redistricting battle.
Democratic legislators argued in their 2022 lawsuit that the process in which Republicans drew the maps was unlawful. Democrats also claimed in the lawsuit that Republicans had failed to include incarcerated individuals when accounting for population splits between districts.
A judge ruled that the maps must be redrawn to include incarcerated individuals, and the Republicans agreed to amend their proposed maps. The judge did not rule that Republicans had to completely redraw maps – though Democrats at the time called on their colleagues to start over with brand new maps. Since the ruling did not instruct the Republicans to form a commission to redraw the maps, Republican legislators Debra Cody, Colleen Gunnip and two legislative aides redrew the maps.
According to Legislature Chairman Tim Burtis, the maps released Nov. 4 reflect the judge’s instructions, and represent modified versions of the Republicans’ previous maps. As such, the new maps reflect small changes to districts to accommodate the population of incarcerated individuals. About 80% of the incarcerated people live in Syracuse, according to Burtis.
There are 1,635 incarcerated individuals to take into account, which is less than 1% of the more than 476,000 residents of Onondaga County, according to the 2020 census. New York state law stipulates that each legislative district must have an average population of 28,000, according to Burtis, which he said complicates the process of incorporating the incarcerated population.
“This is like a Rubik’s Cube,” Burtis said. “So if you do something in one place, it’s going to affect another place, because you have to keep an average.”
In separate interviews, County Democrats cast aspersions on the Republicans’ new maps.
Max Rukdeschel, the chair of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee suggested the Republicans released the maps hoping Election Day would overshadow the maps.
“When this election is over, we’ll take a look at them and see if the County Democratic party has a response,” Rukdeschel said.
Minority Leader Chris Ryan said he had examined the new Republican maps. The maps changed very little outside of the city of Syracuse, according to Ryan, who thought the new maps unnecessarily severed smaller communities like the Geddes, the town of Clay, and the village of North Syracuse.
Ryan said the new maps did not prioritize the interests of these communities, and do not represent “good governance.”
“If we are truly going to work together to make district maps that are both fair and equitable for the constituents of the county of Onondaga, we clearly need to do better,” Ryan said. “These aren’t good maps.”
Ryan and Burtis both expressed optimism that the process of redrawing the maps will reach a conclusion before the new year. In the wake of the lawsuit, members of both parties said they were willing to take the new maps back to court if necessary, but the party leaders have since said they hope to reach an agreement in the Legislature.
Democrats plan to respond with maps of their own by the time the public offers its opinions Tuesday, said Legislator Maurice Brown.
Ryan said he is hopeful that the two parties can come to a compromise on redistricting and avoid having to once again appear before a judge. Burtis said he wants to put the issue — which has been fought over since 2021 — to rest.
Burtis said he is satisfied with the proposed maps, and hopes that he can work with the Democrats’ own proposal in the coming weeks to finalize a map together.
“We’re underway on a timeline to try to get all this done by the end of year,” Burtis said.
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