What are county districts?

“Districts” refers to electoral districts within a county government. Electoral districts are like the boundaries of a town. While living within a certain town’s boundaries determines things like what school district your child may attend or how much you pay in taxes, your district determines who represents your area in your county’s legislature.

What is redistricting?

Redistricting is the process of redrawing district lines.

County redistricting occurs every 10 years after the data from the Census is released, in order to account for population growth and movement. The current redistricting process is based on 2020’s census data.

Different redistricting methods

While all counties must follow the standards outlined in the new redistricting law, the county redistricting process is not uniform. Counties can still develop their own methods and timeframes when they begin their redistricting process.

What is county redistricting?

Under the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, all legislative bodies that elect members based on districts must redistrict in order to ensure equitable representation. All redistricting occurs every 10 years after the data from the census is released.

The state redistricting process is dictated by the U.S. Constitution, the New York State constitution, and implementing legislation. The state process draws lines for Congress, the State Senate, and State Assembly.

County redistricting occurs separately from state redistricting, and the process is very different for each county. Each county government determines the process for redistricting within its own county.

Not all counties will undergo the redistricting process. Counties in New York with legislatures made up of representatives from at-large districts will not redistrict.

Those counties are Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Hamilton, Livingston, Madison, Ontario, Otsego, Saratoga, Warren, Washington and Wyoming.

Charter counties versus non-charter counties

Counties in New York can be sorted into two categories: Charter counties or non-charter counties. (Sullivan County is a charter county.)

Non-charter counties follow the standards set by the New York State constitution, state county law, and municipal home rule law to establish and organize their county government.

Charter counties follow the provision under municipal home rule law known as the county charter law. These charters allow counties to supersede the state standards and create a restructured county government that works best for its unique needs.

Charter counties were previously allowed to adopt their own redistricting standards into their charters, while non-charter counties had to follow the redistricting standards set by state county law.

New legislation sets specific redistricting standards that cannot be superseded by a county’s charter. The standards were implemented in October 2021, and will affect all redistricting plans for the upcoming year. See below.