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NY1 News — Last month, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed off on newly drawn lines for state legislative districts as part of a deal that would reform the redistricting process in 2022, but the plan is still in a state of legal limbo. NY1’s Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

Every ten years, following the census, legislative districts must be redrawn to reflect population changes. Last month, a federal court in Brooklyn redrew New York’s congressional districts, and Albany lawmakers agreed on new lines for state legislative districts.

But the story does not end there, according to Richard Mancino, the lead attorney in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the redistricting process.

“The lines are not a done deal,” Mancino said.

A panel of federal judges in Brooklyn is now considering claims the new State Senate lines violate the “one-person, one-vote” principle, because senate Republicans drew upstate senate districts with fewer people, and packed New York City districts with more people, in order to maximize the number of upstate seats, which often lean Republican.

“Every person should have an equal vote. Not a stronger, not a weaker vote, an equal vote,” said Esmeralda Simmons of the Center for Law and Social Justice.

“There’s also a racial component here. The vast majority of New York State’s Asian-American and minority population is downstate and New York City, whereas the majority of New York State’s white population is upstate,” said Jerry Vattamala of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

There are other legal hurdles. Republicans also added a 63rd seat in the senate, and a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of that move was rejected, but will be heard next week by the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.

The Justice Department must also certify that the lines conform to the Voting Rights Act, and will issue a ruling by April 27.

“That’s why we think this three-judge panel needs to stay involved in this case and be prepared to step in and do what they did with the congressional lines, and that is, draw those legislative districts and impose them on the State of New York,” said Mancino.

The court has set June 5 as a deadline of sorts. That is the date candidates for State Senate and Assembly can begin gathering signatures to get on the ballot for the September primary.

All sides are due back here in court on Friday.

By Bobby Cuza

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