Three different groups have put forward vastly different proposals on how legislative districts should look in the Five Towns.
Legislative lines have to be redrawn every 10 years after census data is released. The Nassau Legislature had approved a plan that was said to be in the Republicans’ favor in 2011, but the state’s highest court ruled that August that the lines could not be used.
Currently, the entire Five Towns is represented by seventh district Legislator Howard Kopel, a Republican.
Now, the current members of the legislature have put forward their own plans.
Democrats introduced a new map that mostly preserves the current map’s lines, with one big difference. In their plan, Atlantic Beach, currently in the fourth district, would join the Five Towns in the seventh. Island Park would be shifted from the seventh district to the fourth.
On the other side, Republicans have introduced a map that would significantly affect legislative lines in the Five Towns. Instead of one legislator representing the population of the Five Towns, under the Republicans’ plan, four people would represent the area.
Inwood, part of Cedarhurst and Meadowmere Park would be shifted to a new third district in the Republican plan; parts of Woodmere, Cedarhurst, Lawrence and Hewlett would be in a new fifth district; other parts of Woodmere, Cedarhurst and Lawrence in the fourth district; and the other part of Hewlett would fall in a new seventh district.
Finally, the Nassau County United Redistricting Coalition [including Make the Road New York], which says it’s a non-partisan civic group, has put forward its own plan. In the group’s plan, almost all of the Five Towns remains part of district seven. However, part of North Woodmere would be shifted to the third district.