Gerrymandering at its finest
After the 2010 census, it was determined that New York State would be losing two congressional seats. Since New York State law also says that districts need to be redrawn every ten years, they have redrawn the lines so that the state will lose one republican seat and one democrat seat. The two seats were lost in Upstate New York, but the republican led state senate, which controls redistricting, has decided that one seat will be lost in New York City because growth has slowed there.
The new lines are the end product of a process that redraws political boundaries statewide every 10 years. The 101st ranges 127 miles in a long, thin strip from the Town of Montgomery at the southern tip to the suburbs of Utica to the north. It covers seven counties, 25 towns and one small city, Little Falls.
It follows no major highway. Even a trip on the state Thruway, which will take you well outside district boundaries, is a nearly four-hour drive from one end to the other.
The result is the hilarious and sad gerrymandering in the pictures below.
Because the images are small and shitty, here’s a bigger map. The 101st district will gerrymander through the following counties, South to North: Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Delaware, Otsego, Herkimer, and Oneida.
These counties are in the Lower Hudson Valley and the Catskills regions. These two regions are very distinct from one another with very distinct needs, but who the hell cares about that when you’re gerrymandering districts to be “fair” to politicians.
You can read some of my other rants on New York State as well. These include how to properly eat pizza as well as how to properly pronounce Albany and other stuff that pisses me off.
