People exit a voting center during early voting in the states' presidential primary election, Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Freeport, N.Y. In Long Island's Nassau County, a handful of Latino residents and a local civil rights organization allege that a redistricting map drawn by the county Legislature dilutes the voting power of Black, Latino and Asian residents. – Weihua Yan had seen dramatic demographic changes since moving to Long Island's Nassau County.
Minority residents and voter advocates blame a redistricting process overseen by the county Legislature, which has a Republican majority. They say the county political map drawn after the 2020 census was done to mostly preserve the existing power structure, and in doing so prevented minority voters from electing a board that was more representative of the area's burgeoning diversity.
Under the federal Voting Rights Act, some states and local governments were required to get approval in advance from the U.S. Department of Justice before making voting-related changes because of their history of discrimination. That practice, known as preclearance, was effectively ended by “Long Island is a place that was built on the principle of exclusion, that was built on the principle of segregation,” he said. “The map, as it stands, keeps us away from the table, denies us seats at the table, and this is why we’re a part of this lawsuit.”
The lawsuit cites the village of Freeport, which is nearly 44% Latino and 32% Black. Under the county's map, part of the village was folded into a district that includes Merrick, which is predominantly white. The district's representative more than likely will always be someone from Merrick, said Maria Jordan-Awalom, a plaintiff who is Latina and a Freeport resident.
The village of New Hyde Park, which also was mentioned in the lawsuit, provides another example showing how the redistricting process has diluted the voting power of minority communities.
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