N.Y.’s redistricting in Dems’ hands after dueling set of maps turned in

ALBANY — Back to the drawing board.

New York’s Democratic-led Legislature is poised to take over the Empire State’s redistricting process after the bipartisan commission tasked with creating new maps failed to reach a consensus.

The 10-member New York State Independent Redistricting Commission voted Monday to send a pair of competing maps, one drawn up by Republicans and one by Democrats, to the Legislature as each side blamed the other for the stalemate.

The deadlock gives Democrats the upper hand as the Assembly and Senate will now likely oversee the creation of new congressional and state legislative district boundaries that will be in place for the next decade.

“We didn’t reach an agreement simply because one side turned their backs and walked away without explanation,” Republican Vice Chairman Jack Martins said of his Democratic counterparts.

Commission Chairman David Imamura, a Democratic appointee, meanwhile, said the Dem proposals were crafted based on input from a series of public sessions.

“We made enormous progress in finding common ground among the commission, but there remained significant differences on important points,” Imamura and his fellow Dems said in a statement. “Namely, we saw our colleagues’ indifference to public input at every step of the process, and especially in our final round of bipartisan negotiations.

“In our instances of disagreement, we relied on public input to guide our decision-making, while it is clear our colleagues did not.”

The commission was created in 2014 in an attempt to take politics out of the redistricting process. However, under the law, the state Legislature will now decide whether to accept either of the submitted plans.

A two-thirds vote in the Senate and Assembly (photo) is required to send one of the new maps to Gov. Hochul, who could then approve or veto the changes.

If Democrats, who have a supermajority in both chambers, reject both maps, the commission would have to start over. Should lawmakers again dismiss the commission’s work, the Legislature could redraw the lines.

Time is of the essence because the state primary is slated for June 28.