Dems, GOP Wrangle Over County Election Districts

A substantial number of Nassau County constituents assembled in North Hempstead Town Hall to hear Nassau County Democrats who are members of the newly formed Districting Advisory Commission—a bi-partisan group with a Republican majority of one, on Wednesday, August 1, 2012. Their charge is to remap nineteen voting districts and possibly combine a few. The new district maps should be ready by January 2013 and final in March of that year. 

Represented at the meeting were Commission Members: Nassau County Legislator Wayne Wink District 11 and Legislator Judi Bosworth, District 10. Also: Attorney David Mejias; Village of Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall; Attorney Bonnie Garone; and Great Neck Democratic Club vice chairman Steven Markowitz.

Democrats have requested that the public be heard before the plan is finalized, not after. Republican leader Francis X Maroney was quoted as answering, “Public comment is gratuitous.”  

Meanwhile the Democrats maintain that the current districts based on the US census of 2000 have worked well. Redistricting, if necessary, is done only if disparities in population show up in one district as compared to another. Also, “communities of interest” should stay together. What Democrats want is “fair and balanced redistricting.”

Readers living in Nassau County may have their say if they call County Executive Ed Mangano, R, at 516-571-3131; Denise Ford, R, who promises to be fair at 516-571-6204.