Jan 25, 2025, Karen Moskowitz provides this final update on the 2020 redistricting of the Nassau County Legislature — after the census, controversial competing redistricting committee maps, lawsuits (with the PWM League as one of the plaintiffs, among others), court rulings, and appeals.
We thank Karen for her four years of tireless work keeping Nassau County League members apprised of developments.
To Interested Parties Following Nassau County Redistricting:
As you may have already heard, good government scored a win this week with the settlement of two consolidated cases challenging the Nassau County legislative map drawn in 2023.
Justice Marx of the New York State Supreme Court signed a Consent Decree on January 22nd in which the parties agreed to a new map for the county. As many of us fought for, Nassau will now have six majority-minority election districts instead of the current four, which the League believes fairly represents Nassau’s current demographics. Per the Decree, no appeal is permitted, so this map is final and will remain in place until the next round of redistricting begins after the 2030 U.S. Census. Notable is that this was the first test case for New York State’s 2022 Voting Rights Act. The new map will be used for both primary and general election races to be held this year for all county Legislature seats.
We’d be remiss if we failed to mention that one of the lead plaintiffs was the late Hazel “Scottie” Coads, who fought long and hard for fair representation and departed too soon to enjoy this win.
Per the Newsday article by Candice Ferrette referenced in the 4th bullet below, here are key changes to the districts:
- “The new map includes six majority-minority districts and one Asian-influence district. Under the new map, districts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 14 are composed of more than 50% underrepresented voting groups. District 9, located in the greater New Hyde Park area on the Queens border, is made up of nearly 30% Asian American voters. Nassau has never elected a legislator of Asian descent, despite the growing population and influence of that demographic in the county.
- The new map makes the most significant changes to districts now represented by Legis. Seth Koslow (D-Merrick), Legis. C. William Gaylor III (R-Lynbrook), Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Valley Stream) and Legis. John Ferretti (R-Levittown). Those changes won’t take effect until next year.
- In the settlement is a new District 5 spanning southern Uniondale, the central Village of Hempstead, most of West Hempstead and the southern section of Franklin Square. It changes District 14 to include more of Valley Stream instead of East Rockaway and a section of Oceanside.
- Voters in Lakeview, West Hempstead and Malverne, previously in District 14 represented by Gaylor, will be moved to Solages’ District 3, which now also includes Bellerose Terrace and a small portion of Franklin Square. Ferretti’s District 15 now includes North Wantagh, Seaford and most of Wantagh. It no longer includes Plainedge, a portion of North Massapequa, South Farmingdale, Farmingdale and part of Bethpage.”
Now, down to articles and data:
- The link to Democracy Docket’s article reporting the settlement: Nassau County to Adopt New Legislature Map with Six Minority Districts – Democracy Docket
- Within that article is a link to the Consent Decree, included here for ease of reference: 3692025-01-22-Joint-motion-for-entry-of-judgment-and-consent-decree.pdf
The Decree includes a non-interactive image of the new map and (hundreds of pages of) street-by-street boundary descriptions of the new districts and technical descriptions by census tract, block and block equivalency.
- The sole interactive map we’ve been able to locate is the one published in Newsday. Unfortunately, it’s behind a pay wall, so a subscription to the paper is needed. But Newsday is having a sale right now: 25 cents (not a typo) for the first 6 months of subscription; cancel any time. Go to Newsday.com’s home page and click on the orange box in the upper right corner to take advantage of the sale.
- For those of you with a Newsday subscription, here’s the link to the article containing the map: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/elections/nassau-county-legislative-map-rmdzai73. Click on Continue Reading to expand the article and display the map. Clicking on each district brings up a snapshot of its demographics.
- For those without a subscription, here’s a screenshot of the map:
- Finally, the link to a brief Newsday video in which some of the changes are discussed: New Nassau County legislative district map approved – Newsday.
