Gov. Hochul’s latest redistricting threat is – Latest News
Gov. Kathy Hochul and fellow Democrats are again threatening to rig New York’s congressional voting-district maps to win seats for his or her get together.
And in mid-decade, no much less, in clear violation of the state Constitution.
It’s sleazy, anti-democratic — and unlawful.
Even Hochul admits it, however suggests Dems could do it anyway since Texas and Ohio are transferring to attract up new districts of their states.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats are again threatening to rig New York’s congressional voting-district maps, writes The Post Editorial Board. Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
“All’s fair in love and war,” she huffed final week. “If there’s other states violating the rules and are trying to give themselves an advantage, all I’ll say is, I’m going to look at it closely.”
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Huh? If Texas and Ohio rig their maps, that doesn’t give Hochul & Co. the appropriate to interrupt New York’s legal guidelines — even when her objective is to offset any benefit Republicans get in these states.
Note, too, that Hochul is huffing not about defending New York’s affect in Congress however her get together’s.
And on the expense, presumably, of Republican voters in New York, for the reason that objective can be to attract district strains favorable to Democrats.
True, Texas and Ohio Republicans are anticipated draw strains they hope will favor them. But if these states cheat their Democratic voters, these voters can sue.
Hochul and her get together are anxious that if more Republicans are elected from these states, it’ll make it more durable for Democrats to win control of the House in subsequent yr’s midterms.
But again, if the donkeys assume these states are breaking any legal guidelines, they’ll go to court docket, too.
Meanwhile, if Hochul tried to gerrymander in time for the midterm, she’d be doubly violating the state Constitution.
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First, redistricting can happen solely as soon as each 10 years, after the Census, not mid-decade.
Second, in 2014 New Yorkers handed a constitutional modification that empowered an impartial decennial redistricting commission and particularly banned partisan gerrymandering.
But Democrats ignored the modification and tried to gerrymander anyway a few years in the past, and it took a ruling by the state’s high court docket to stop them.
We don’t condone gerrymandering, by both get together, in any state. It cheats voters, skews illustration and undermines democracy.
As even Democratic boss Jay Jacobs warns, “We need to be careful about democracy,” including, “You don’t change the rules of the game to your advantage just because you can.”
Given the tight timeframe, it’s unlikely Democrats might pull this off.
But then, if New York Dems have been prepared to violate the Constitution earlier than, who may be sure they received’t “break the rules” again to push via corrupt new district strains in time?
New Yorkers of each events ought to demand Hochul take back her threat and obey the law.
