Commission Holds Hearing

Redistricting Explained; Draft District Map Viewed

By WRILEY NELSON

ONEONTA

The City of Oneonta 2020 Redistricting Commission held a public hearing on its proposed Common Council ward map on March 28. To ensure that each vote counts equally, New York’s Municipal Home Rule Law requires cities to reapportion their voting districts after the decennial federal census. The COVID-19 pandemic made this process considerably more difficult in Oneonta; SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College students—who make up a significant percentage of the city population— were absent and often difficult to reach during the census. The census used dormitory population reports from April of 2020 to estimate the student population. Like other upstate localities, Oneonta has also experienced an influx of downstate residents affected by the pandemic. The Common Council appointed a redistricting commission on November 15, 2022.

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Commission Chair Gary Herzig, city mayor from 2015 to 2021, opened the meeting with a discussion of the state and city laws guiding the commission’s work. The most challenging guideline, he said, was the population provision in MHR section 10: “the difference in population between the most and least populous district shall not exceed five percent of the mean population of all districts.”

In Oneonta, Herzig explained, “The most populous ward can have no more than 80-something people more than the least populous ward. That’s a high bar for us to meet.”

The state also forbids redistricting with any intent or result of abridging the electoral rights

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