Nassau United Redistricting Coalition Reform Redistricting Plan for the Nassau County Legislature
The Coalition plan, dated January 23, 2013, is the second version of this plan, having benefited from additional comments and suggestions from residents and community groups. The broadening of community input and participation is an important objective to the decennial districting process which often occurs with insufficient transparency and a want of fairness.
| Coalition Plan Files: |
| PDF of Full Coalition Plan Guide 2.0 — 1-23-13 |
| Block File_V2 |
Nassau United Reform Redistricting Plan
(for detailed maps of individual districts see embedded PDF below or download PDF at link on right)
The Nassau County United Redistricting Coalition determined to draft a reform redistricting plan after witnessing repeated displays of partisan dysfunction by the Legislature’s Temporary Districting Commission.
| Compare the current Nassau Legislative Districts to the three plans |
The Temporary Districting Commission did little at the hearings to reflect any sort of “bi-partisan” character, openly acknowledging that they operate as two functionally-separate entities. So we are left with a process that has failed to honor the spirit of the county charter. And proposals that, because of the failures of the process, cannot be said to reflect the realities as expressed by the people. Our sentiment is that process has been neither fair nor non-partisan, and we question the legitimacy of districts drawn without real public input.
The Nassau United Reform Redistricting Plan offers a clear alternative to the partisan dysfunction and hyper-partisan gerrymandering that has come to characterize the Legislature’s official process. Instead of treating Nassau voters as political pawns to be divided or pitted against one another for the benefit of one party or the other, this Coalition draft plan begins with the existing Legislative districts and adjusts them based on the following traditional, objective redistricting criteria:
- Equal Population – follow the principle of “one person, one vote” in the US Constitution by drawing districts and exercising good faith to create equipopulous districts with a population deviation of no more than +/- 5% from the ideal average value.
- Voting Rights Act/Fair Representation for Racial and Language Minorities – ensure that districts maintain the rights of minority (racial and linguistic) groups to have a fair opportunity to elect their preferred candidates and to engage in the democratic process. Nassau County legislative redistricting should reflect the strong growth in the County’s minority communities. From 2000 to 2010, the non-Hispanic white voting age population declined by nearly 9%. NH Black VAP rose by 17% while Hispanic VAP and NH Asian VAP rose even faster, increasingly by 49% and 68% respectively.
- Respect for Political Subdivisions — district lines should respect the borders of towns, villages, and school districts when possible, keeping residents with common interests together in a single district and helping facilitate a stronger relationship between local officials and their county-level representatives.
- Respect for Communities of Interest — generally defined as a local population with shared socio-economic characteristics and political institutions that would benefit from unified representation by a single legislator. A local community with unified and cohesive political leadership tends to have stronger influence in the legislature. On the other hand, if a community with shared interests is redrawn and divided by political district lines, the representation of those interests will also be divided and weakened.
- Compactness & Contiguity – district shapes should be as compact as possible and districts should connect separate areas divided by water or other impassible features.
- Barring Uses of Partisanship and Political Data — follow an “incumbent blind” process and one that does not utilize any political data (percentages and actual data related to voter registration, voters’ membership data by political parties, election races, turnout rates by precinct, etc.) or seek to advantage any particular political party in drawing the lines.
The Coalition’s proposed district map (below) reflects the above districting principles and attempts to respect the important districting principle of maintaining communities of interest as well as reflecting their community growth trajectories.
The Coalition plan, dated January 23, 2013, is the second version of this plan, having benefited from additional comments and suggestions from residents and community groups. The broadening of community input and participation is an important objective to the decennial districting process which often occurs with insufficient transparency and a want of fairness.
Our non-partisan Coalition has a publicly accessible website that invites public participation and dialogue.
United Reform Plan Demographics
| DIST | POP | DEV% | NHWhtVAP% | NHBlkVAP% | NHAsnVAP% | HispVAP% |
| 1 | 67,812 | -3.9% | 9.5% | 53.9% | 1.6% | 32.9% |
| 2 | 72,914 | 3.3% | 15.8% | 39.6% | 2.4% | 40.3% |
| 3 | 68,145 | -3.4% | 25.8% | 39.6% | 12.4% | 18.9% |
| 4 | 72,082 | 2.1% | 82.0% | 3.2% | 2.4% | 11.3% |
| 5 | 73,141 | 3.6% | 48.0% | 23.5% | 2.8% | 23.8% |
| 6 | 67,836 | -3.9% | 75.2% | 4.7% | 5.7% | 13.0% |
| 7 | 67,965 | -3.7% | 77.8% | 5.4% | 4.2% | 11.7% |
| 8 | 73,453 | 4.1% | 76.1% | 3.9% | 7.0% | 11.6% |
| 9 | 73,550 | 4.2% | 75.3% | 1.9% | 10.7% | 10.6% |
| 10 | 73,872 | 4.7% | 69.1% | 1.6% | 21.6% | 5.6% |
| 11 | 72,564 | 2.8% | 76.3% | 2.3% | 10.7% | 9.5% |
| 12 | 67,138 | -4.9% | 88.4% | 3.6% | 1.9% | 5.5% |
| 13 | 70,558 | 0.0% | 75.8% | 3.5% | 9.5% | 10.0% |
| 14 | 67,425 | -4.5% | 85.2% | 0.9% | 4.9% | 8.2% |
| 15 | 73,132 | 3.6% | 87.5% | 0.6% | 3.7% | 7.5% |
| 16 | 68,535 | -2.9% | 80.6% | 0.9% | 13.0% | 4.5% |
| 17 | 67,756 | -4.0% | 70.8% | 1.6% | 16.3% | 9.8% |
| 18 | 73,036 | 3.5% | 74.6% | 4.8% | 5.7% | 13.7% |
| 19 | 69,968 | -0.9% | 84.6% | 4.0% | 2.9% | 7.5% |
