Ballot Proposal 1 - Amending the Apportionment and Redistricting Process

Summary

This proposed constitutional amendment would freeze the number of state senators at 63, amend the process for the counting of the state's population, delete certain provisions that violate the United States Constitution, repeal and amend certain requirements for the appointment of the co-executive directors of the redistricting commission and amend the manner of drawing district lines for congressional and state legislative offices. Shall the proposed amendment be approved? The purpose of this proposal is to amend the portions of Article III of the New York Constitution that relate to the way district lines for congressional and state legislative offices are determined. The proposal would do the following: + Amend and repeal portions of the state constitutional amendment adopted by voters in 2014 that created a redistricting commission. + Allow the redistricting commission to appoint two co-executive directors by simple majority vote, without consideration as to the party affiliation of the individual being appointed. Furthermore, this amendment would eliminate the alternative process currently in place that allows for the appointment of co-executive directors and co-deputy executive directors by the legislature should the redistricting commission fail to appoint co-executive directors, and remove the requirement that the two co-executive directors of the redistricting commission be members of different political parties. + Freeze the number of state senators at the current number of 63. Currently, under the state constitution, the number of senators was originally set at 50 and thereafter increased over time to 63. + Require that state assembly and senate district lines be based on the total population of the state, and require the state to count all residents, including non-citizens and Native Americans if the federal census fails to include them. + Provide for incarcerated people to be counted at their place of last residence, instead of at their place of incarceration, for the purpose of redistricting. This practice is already established by state statute for Senate and Assembly districts. + Revise the procedure for drawing and approving Congressional and state legislative districts scheduled to be first applied in 2022. The proposed amendment would alter the redistricting procedure in the following ways: + Change the redistricting map approval procedures for the redistricting commission and legislature by making changes to the voting thresholds needed to approve/adopt a plan. Under this proposal: + Approval of a plan by the redistricting commission would require at least seven votes, out of the ten commissioners, in favor thereof. There would no longer be a requirement that at least one commissioner appointed by each of the legislative leaders vote in favor of a plan in order to approve it. A plan approved by at least seven commissioners must be approved by a majority of each house of the legislature to be approved. + However, in the event that the redistricting commission votes on but does not have the seven votes needed to approve a plan, the commission is required to send the legislature the redistricting plan or plans that garnered the most votes. The legislature would be able to adopt such plan with a 60% majority. This amendment would repeal the requirement that in the event the speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of the senate are members of the same political party, approval shall require the vote in support of it's passage by at least two thirds of the members elected in each house. If the commission fails to vote on any plan or plans by the deadline, all plans, including draft plans in the commission's possession are sent to the legislature, and each house of the legislature can introduce and adopt such a plan with or without amendments. + The redistricting commission voting requirements and legislative vote thresholds for approving the commission's plan would no longer vary depending on the political affiliation of the Temporary President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly. + Require the redistricting commission that draws the lines to submit its redistricting plan and implementing legislation to the Legislature two months earlier than called for under the current procedure the timeline set forth in the 2014 state constitutional amendment. (For the redistricting cycle due to proceed in 2022, the time frame would be condensed to meet election-related deadlines). + Remove certain restrictions on how Senate district lines are drawn, including the "block on border" rule that require placing of blocks on the border of districts in certain districts. + Delete certain provisions that the United States Supreme Court has deemed unconstitutional.

A "YES" vote is in favor of the proposed constitutional amendment.

A "NO" vote is against the proposed constitutional amendment.

Arguments

"We"re dealing with a process set up by Republicans when they had (Senate) control to achieve a specific partisan result. What we"re doing is removing the partisan bias in this process." - Sen. Michael Gianaris, in support of Ballot Proposal 1 (Learn more)

"It stifles the voice of the minority, it denies the will of the people and it’s the antithesis of independence." - Sen. Patrick Gallivan, in opposition to Ballot Proposal 1 (Learn more)

Measure Details