Know Your Congressional District
If you haven’t been paying attention, you may not know that, come election time, you will almost certainly be voting in a new Congressional District. Remember all those 2010 census forms that showed up in your mail (and census workers who showed up at your door if you didn’t send those forms back)? Welcome to the results in the form of legislative redistricting.
Mostly, those results have been a lot of infighting between the parties. For better or worse, though, as primary deadlines draw closer, things are starting to solidify. While passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Cuomo on March 15, the new State Assembly and Senate district maps are still not finalized due to a review by the Justice Department and a state lawsuit by Senate Democrats.
Congressional Districts, however, have been decided. And not by our state legislature. They couldn’t come to an agreement on a new map that would bring the total number of districts down to 27 from 29 as required by the census. So a federal court stepped in and handed down their decision on March 19. March 20 was the first day primary candidates could collect qualifying signatures.
According to the New York Times:
The map imposed by the court eliminated the mid-Hudson Valley district represented by Maurice D. Hinchey, a Democrat not seeking re-election, and split its territory among several surrounding districts. It also carved up the district in Brooklyn and Queens represented by Bob Turner, a Republican who won an upset victory in the special election last fall for the unexpired term of Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat. Mr. Turner is now seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat.
Under the current map, our neighborhood is in the 11th District and represented by Yvette Clark. The district that Bob Turner currently represents is the 9th District. Beginning in January 2013 (and affecting the 2012 elections), much of our area will become the 9th District, which will extend much further south than the 11th currently does. Also, between Church and Ditmas, Coney Island Avenue will become a divider between the new 9th and the new 10th.
Confused? Plug your address into this map to see where you’ll fall. You could also give this (admittedly partisan) game a shot. Just be sure to keep an eye on things. Some important dates:
Presidential primary election on April 24
Congressional primary election on June 26
State and local primary election on September 11
General election on November 6
Voter registration deadlines on March 30 (Presidential primary), June 1 (Congressional primary), August 17 (local primary), and October 12 (General election)
Make sure you get out to VOTE and that you know your district. Things are going to get confusing this year.
Presumably, Congresswoman Clarke will be running again and running in the 9th District. But perhaps redistricting will make for a more interesting race.
Any thoughts or (dare I say) challengers?