Niagara County redistricting map approved, debated

Jun. 22—The Niagara County Legislature voted 11-3 Tuesday to adopt a local law for the reapportionment of Niagara County voting districts. The three dissenters were the Democratic minority conference made up of Legislators Chris Robins, Jeff Elder and Mark Grozio.

Two of those individuals were directly affected by the redistricting, 3rd District Legislator Mark Grozio and 5th District Legislator Chris Robins, who now jointly represent the Town of Niagara. The town had formerly fallen in just Robins' district.

The reason behind the resolution was the districting guidelines law that was enacted by Gov. Kathy Hochul in October, according to the legislature. The law states "the difference in population between the most and least populous district shall not exceed 5% of the mean population of all districts."

Robins said the county should've sent in its maps at that time and let the state measure any wrongdoing.

"Our ideal thing would be to keep it status-quo and keep it where it was in October," Robins said, noting that any problems the state had with those maps could be addressed at that time.

On Grozio's side the predicament, he said that the maps didn't seem right to him. He noted that 6th District Legislator Chris Voccio was taking part of his district in LaSalle while he was taking part of Robins' district in the Town of Niagara and Robins was also taking part of Voccio's district.

"I'd like to see the data behind that," Grozio said.

Voccio, for his part, provided a statement that said, "The committee charged with redrawing the legislative district lines didn't have an easy task."

Voccio noted that he'd made recommendations at a public hearing last year, that were not followed, but would've brought more "symmetry to the 6th Legislative District and other Niagara Falls districts."

Voccio said he was glad that both the City of Niagara Falls and the Town of Niagara have a combined four legislators and no other districts were affected.

"I should note that the new district is still overwhelmingly Democrat," he wrote in conclusion. "The current district has 2.76 Democrats for every Republican. The future district has 2.56 Democrats for every Republican, still an overwhelming advantage for Democrats."

Another figure in dissent was Chris Borgatti, Democratic Party chair, who spoke at the Legislature's public hearing.

"The maps that were to be discussed today came as a result of October, which I understand," Borgatti said. "But the process of how those maps and how they originated a second time has me deeply concerned."

Borgatti said the process was not fair. The committee assembled to make the maps were four-Republicans to one-Democratic member, he said, and furthermore that same committee was not given time to deliberate on the maps, which were given to them to rubber stamp.

"Given this, I think there should be an independent commission to look into the matter," he said.

Ezra Scott Jr., former Niagara Falls councilman and present coordinator of the Niagara Falls Peacemakers, also rejected the maps.

"I want to ask for the consideration for another public meeting in Niagara Falls," he said.

Scott said that redistricting was incredibly important, noting former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren spoke on the subject and it was possibly the most important case of his tenure on the bench.

"The goal of redistricting should always get to a point of being able to draw lines that do not favor one party line over the other and have equal representation for all," Scott said. "Not certain representation in more rural communities, and not either in more urban communities. Again, I just ask that you reconsider and make sure the goal in mind is always equal representation."