Broome County Legislators Meet to Redraw District Lines
![Broome County New District Map](https://WICZ.images.worldnow.com/images/25626993_G.png?auto=webp&disable=upscale&height=560&fit=bounds&lastEditedDate=1702940371000)
For the past few weeks, county legislators have been working tirelessly to present new district map ideas that will change the districts that many Broome County residents currently reside in.
The change comes after the current district map did not abide by the regulations put forward in the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law regarding the 2020 census.
The new district map was approved with a 4-1 ruling but legislator Mark Whalen of the 15th district was not pleased with the ruling saying it favors Republicans.
“The map that they push through tonight is better than the other one. But it also gives a distinct advantage to Republican candidates. And I think one of the reasons that we've had trouble finding candidates on the Democratic side is that so many of the districts are basically unwinnable by Democrats. And so people, they don't run. This is a very rushed job here” said Whalen.
Although Whalen and some constituents believe the decision was very rushed, ad hoc Chairman Daniel Reynolds of the 5th district says, this was done to assist election committees and that the map represents groups of interest well.
“What we really tried to do is respect the existing districts that were created previously, because that's part of the the home rule requirement. You're supposed to incorporate the core of existing election districts. You're supposed to try to keep communities of interest together. We really tried to do that the best we could. And quite honestly, I think we did a really good job in this case. We came up with a reasonable solution that allowed for the town of Maine to be held together with parts of the town of Union, which makes sense because they're part of the M-E school district. There's ambulances or fire districts, all those. There's common interests up there as well” said Chairman Reynolds.
The map will be placed on legislator's desks for the next 7 days where they can review and bring up any grievances and on December 27th the recommendations will be reported to the County administration committee.