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Civil Rights Groups Propose Alternate Redistricting Plan

NY1 — Several civil rights groups proposed a redistricting plan for New York Tuesday, saying their plan for new state assembly and state senate districts reflect the state’s changing demographics and protects the voting rights of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian-Americans.

They said the so-called “Unity Map” would increase the number of districts in which the minority was the majority.

“We believe it’s important for black, Latino, and Asian groups to work together to ensure that all of our communities have greater opportunities to elect candidates of choice,” said Margaret Fung of the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund. “And we believe that our Unity Map represents that unified vision for new districts that will enable us to

have fair representation for our communities.”

“The districts by themselves do not help us reach that mountaintop, when we have fair representation, and the dignity of our vote and our voices in Albany. But damn it, if we don’t have the districts, we’ll never get the representation that we need,” said Latino Justice President Juan Cartagena.

NY1 reached out to the Board of Elections and was awaiting a response Tuesday.

Watch the video at NY1 News and view the Unity Map