By Zoe Casselman
A lawsuit over fair elected representation in the Nassau County Legislature is now under way in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, with many voters of color saying they believe their voices have been drowned out by the current district lines. The lines, they contend, oppress Black, Latino and Asian voters through deliberate gerrymandering designed to dilute the influence of communities of color.
The case — New York Communities for Change (NYCC) v. Nassau County — was brought to court Dec. 17 by the Brooklyn-based nonprofit NYCC and four voters — Maria Jordan Awalom, Monica Diaz, Lisa Ortiz and Guillermo Vanetten — against Nassau County, the Nassau Legislature and multiple Nassau officials. NYCC, which has a Nassau chapter, fights for economic, racial and environmental justice, according to the lawsuit.
The suit is challenging the Nassau Legislature’s district map that legislators approved on Feb. 27, 2023, alleging that it favors Republican candidates and discriminates against voters of color.
The map, the suit argues, unlawfully engages in “cracking” of Black, Latino and Asian voters; that is, splitting up communities with large minority populations into predominantly White — and often Republican — districts to repress their political power. At the same time, the map also “packs” voters of color into certain districts, with the intention of segregating and thus weakening the minority vote, according to the suit.
The lawsuit emphasizes that the current district lines separate a large community of Asian voters in western Nassau into three districts rather than one to discriminate and deny those voters the ability to influence an election’s outcome.
Republican legislators “refuse to let Asian voters have a majority [or] plurality,” said Claudia Borecky, president of the North and Central Merrick Civic Association who has been involved in Democratic politics for several years. “In Nassau, they have never had that before, and they need a voice. They need to be represented. The Asian community does not have a representative, and they can’t elect one.”
The suit calls for the court to declare the current legislative map invalid and immediately implement a new district plan that respects the voting rights of Nassau’s growing communities of color. The suit centers on the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York of 2022 and the New York Municipal Home Rule Law of 1963, which prohibits partisan and discriminatory gerrymandering at the local level, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped bring the case to court.
Democratic legislators and activists are seeking six majority-minority legislative districts and one Asian-majority district, according to Newsday. Even though voters of color constitute nearly half of Nassau’s population, the 2023 map carves out only four majority-minority districts, according to the lawsuit.
A bipartisan election panel drew district lines in 2022. The panel was charged with creating 19 legislative districts, each with roughly 72,000 residents. The Republican-controlled Legislature, however, did not accept proposals from the Temporary Districting Advising Commission, but instead adopted its own plan that “incorporated testimony from both the public and legislators.”
The lawsuit claims that the presiding officer of the Nassau Legislature, Howard Kopel, a Republican from Lawrence, offered no real justification to dismiss the two maps drawn by the TDAC. Further, the suit states that district lines adopted by the legislature were anything but “race-blind” and only served to further “racially polarized voting.”
Civil rights attorney Frederick Brewington, whose office is in Hempstead, is among the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. He recently discussed the case with The Long Island Advocate by phone. Brewington argues that the legislature’s current district lines serve only to silence underrepresented voters. Redistricting, he noted, is supposed to maintain “communities of interest”; that is, blocks of voters with like interests. The current district lines, he argued, do not do that.
“You have a legislature that has ignored many of the voices being raised about maintaining communities of interest and making sure communities of color in Nassau County are properly and fairly represented,” Brewington said. These communities “have been basically dashed against the rocks, and their rights were clearly made to be less than by the legislature that passed this current map, so therefore it’s being challenged.”
Republicans, however, disagree that the map is illegal or unjust.
“The lines are fair, reasonable and in accordance with applicable law,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican from Atlantic Beach, in a statement.
Nassau County Republican Chair Joseph Cairo echoed Blakeman, telling reporters “the districts comply with all applicable state and federal redistricting laws.”
These communities “have been basically dashed against the rocks, and their rights were clearly made to be less than by the legislature that passed this current map, so therefore it’s being challenged.”
Frederick Brewington, Civil Rights Attorney
A number of Nassau voters disagree, however.
“We love the diverse cultures of our communities. We are sickened by the cruelty of this potential policy, but we also know cruelty is the goal,” said Lorraine Attias, of East Meadow, of Nassau’s treatment of minority groups in development of its legislative districts.
The map “is an absolute travesty of justice. [When] legislators redraw lines and deliberately manipulate the system, they [are] negating to actually represent their communities,” said Judy Cataldo, executive assistant of the Elmont Cultural Center.
“This case is important because it seeks to protect the rights of individuals who have been consistently and historically underrepresented,” Brewington said, “both in government and in terms of making sure that they have full fair opportunity to exercise their franchise in terms of voting.”
Scott Brinton contributed to this story.
