Steuben County voters reject measure to cut Legislature districts; Chemung County proposal passes
Steuben County voters Tuesday turned down a proposition to reduce the number of districts in the county Legislature from 13 to 11.
Steuben County Proposition 1 went down, with 17,702 (55.1%) voting against the measure and 14,411 (44.9%) voting in favor, according to the Steuben County Board of Elections' unofficial results.
If it had been approved, the proposition would have maintained legislative representation on the county board at 17 lawmakers, while eliminating District 6 (Dansville, Hornellsville and Hartsville) and District 8 (Bradford, Campbell and Wayne).
Under the plan, those towns would have been incorporated into new legislative districts and the districts impacted would have scheduled elections for 2023.
Steuben County officials said the proposition's redrawn districts were based on the results of the 2020 federal census.
Results:See local election results
What happens next is up to the Legislature, according to Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler.
"The Legislature could propose a new plan to be put in front of the voters," Wheeler said. "It would have to go through the same process. There has been no discussion that I have heard as of yet about that."
Wheeler said the Legislature has met its requirements under state law to examine how districts are structured following every federal census and, if there are changes proposed, present them to voters.
"The voters obviously did not adopt it. In terms of what is required, though, that has been satisfied," Wheeler said.
Wheeler noted the Legislature uses a weighted voting system to account for population differences among the districts. With the proposition defeated, Wheeler said county lawmakers are likely to make adjustments to how votes are currently weighted.
"I would expect the Legislature to formally adopt the re-weight based on the 2020 census," he said. "They had not done that yet because of this proposition, but that is the other thing you typically do after a census is adjust the weight of the voting system to account for the population changes."
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Chemung voters approve redistricting proposition after veto override
In Chemung County, voters approved a pair of county-wide propositions on Tuesday.
Proposition 1, which amends the Chemung County Charter to reapportion legislative districts as a result of the 2020 U.S. Census, was approved with 13,287 (54.36%) voting in favor and 11,155 (45.64%) voting against.
The reapportionment redraws district borders but does not change the number of districts or how many legislators serve on the board. The adopted maps favored a “least-change plan,” keeping most residents in familiar districts, legislators said.
The plan was originally passed by the Legislature but vetoed by County Executive Chris Moss. In August, the Legislature voted to override the veto and send the measure to voters.
Voters also approved Chemung County Proposition 2 authorizing the Chemung County Library to expend $3,398,615 in 2023.
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This article originally appeared on The Leader: Voters reject Steuben County Legislature change; Chemung plan passes
