New York County to Redraw Voting Lines Following Lawsuit Alleging Disenfranchisement of Communities of Color

In East Meadow, New York, a county has agreed to revise its voting map following allegations from a lawsuit stating that its political boundaries were suppressing the voting rights of residents belonging to ethnic minorities.

This agreement was reached by Nassau County on Thursday, and as part of the settlement, the suburban area situated just east of Queens in New York City will establish six new voting districts where Black, Latino, and Asian residents will comprise the majority of eligible voters.

In 2023, the county’s legislature, which is mainly Republican, had approved a voting map that only had four out of the 19 districts with residents of color making up the majority of eligible voters.

But the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued in state court, arguing the map diluted the electoral power of residents of color, who make up more than one-third of eligible voters.

They said the political map, based off the 2020 census, split minority communities or combined them with others that were starkly different.

That, the groups argued, has prevented the election of officials more representative of the county’s diversity. Whites make up about 56% of the county’s nearly 1.4 million people, but they comprise nearly 80% of its governing body.

“This map is a big step towards equality and fairness in our community’s democracy,” Lisa Ortiz, a plaintiff in the case, said in statement Thursday. “After years of having our votes and voices diluted and ignored, we finally have an equal voice at the polls.”

The new voting map will take effect for legislative elections this coming November and remain in effect after the 2030 census, when maps will be redrawn to reflect updated census counts, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups said.

The local Republican Party said it remains committed to “fair and competitive” districts and is confident it will retain its majority in the legislature.

“Republican successes at the polls illustrate the fact that our agenda is reflective of the priorities of the people who call Nassau home,” Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo said in a statement Thursday.

The lawsuit against Nassau County was among at least four filed under the state’s Voting Rights Act, which was enacted in 2022 in response to a wave of voting restrictions passed in many Republican-led states following the 2020 election.