New York county agrees to redraw voting lines that lawsuit said disenfranchised residents of color

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (AP) — A New York county has agreed to redraw its voting map after a lawsuit claimed its political boundaries disenfranchised residents of color.

Nassau County reached a settlement Thursday in which the suburban region, located just east of New York City borough of Queens, would create six voting districts in which Black, Latino and Asian residents constitute a majority of eligible voters.

The county's Republican-controlled legislature approved a voting map in 2023 in which residents of color constituted a majority of eligible voters in just four of the county’s 19 districts.

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.