Orange County Legislators to Consider 7th Redistricting Map at Special Sessions

Orange County legislators interact during a regular legislative session in Goshen, N.Y., on Dec. 1, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Orange County legislators will consider a new draft district map for the 2025 county legislative seat elections at special sessions on Aug. 15.

If they deem the map sufficient for public review, county residents will get to view and comment on it before a final map can be adopted by the legislative body later this year.

It is the third legislative attempt to get a draft map to the public in two months; it has been a bumpy journey complicated by sharp population growth in a few district pockets and tightened state redistricting laws.

Among all municipalities, the village of Kiryas Joel had the most population growth over the last census period. Its population grew by more than half to nearly 33,000 from 2010 to 2020.

The village is followed by the town of Wallkill, whose population grew by about 3,000 over the same period, and the town of New Windsor, which gained close to 2,600 more residents.

Both federal and state laws require that election districts at almost all government levels be redrawn based on fresh population counts from the decennial census.

“There is sort of a domino effect,” a consultant with Sanborn, a professional firm hired to assist legislators in redistricting, said at a June 26 rules committee meeting. “Because of how large certain districts have gotten, it is going to cause massive changes to the rest of the map.”

What further complicates the job is a new state law that cut in half the leeway that county district mapmakers have in redrawing lines. In the past, the most and least populated county districts could have up to a 10 percent difference in populations. The new threshold is a 5 percent difference.

Federal and state constitutions have long held that election districts contain similar numbers of residents in the spirit of “one person, one vote,” a principle that Gov. Kathy Hochul cited in a public statement after she signed off on the law in 2021.

“The tough nut to crack here is the population deviation, down from 10 [percent] to 5 percent, and that really tied our hands,” a Sanborn consultant said at a July 17 rules committee meeting after hearing from several legislators whose suggestions were not taken.

For Orange County, the new rule means that the population difference between the most and least populated districts cannot be more than 955 people.

Plus, the new percentage rule must be considered before all of the other redistricting principles in the law, which, in descending order of importance, are that the redrawn districts must not dilute minority votes, shall be contiguous and as compact as possible, and shall not favor incumbents, candidates, or political parties.

The least important redistricting rule under the law—and also where most legislators have suggestions of map changes—is to maintain core areas in existing districts and respect municipal boundaries, including not to divide villages, cities, or towns whose populations are below 40 percent of that of a district.

In addition to that law, another new piece of legislation from 2023 aimed at strengthening the voice of minority voters also comes into play.

“Essentially, if you have any kind of a situation where it could be alleged that there is vote dilution and that minority voters don’t have equal opportunity to vote, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act could kick in,” a Sanborn consultant said of the wide-ranging law at a legislative meeting, before suggesting a compliance effort to avoid legal challenges.

The cities of Middletown and Newburgh have the most minority residents in Orange County.

As consultants moved around the Newburgh area lines to amplify minority voices, the district right beneath the area covering parts of New Windsor and Cornwall changed and ended up in an irregular, meandering shape. Despite opposition from the legislator representing the district, the changes have stayed in place thus far.

Journey to the 7th Draft

In voting down prior draft maps, legislators said that they did so to push for changes not only in the map but also in the redistricting process.

They suggested at public meetings that the process should have begun earlier to allow for ample deliberation, that it should have more interactions between the legislators and consultants, and that it should, as previously agreed, get three maps—not just one—for public review.

Several legislators from the minority Democratic caucus suggested copying neighboring Dutchess County to assemble an independent committee in charge of redistricting.

In Orange County, under the design of County Legislature Chairwoman Katie Bonelli, a working committee made up of Majority Leader Tom Faggione, Minority Leader Michael Paduch, legislator James O’Donnell, and independent legislator Michael Amo acts as the middle link between consultants and the rest of legislators in the process.

At an Aug. 8 special meeting, legislators approved up to a $38,700 new payment to Sanborn—on top of the $80,000 existing contract—to buy more time for legislators to meet with and convey their feedback to the consultants, which had led to the latest and the seventh draft.