Onondaga County political leaders sparred over the redistricting process in a meeting Wednesday.
County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said meetings on redistricting are scheduled before this year’s election, which he said isn’t necessary and pulls members away from important duties.
He also said there isn’t enough time for the public to weigh in on the process with the first meeting scheduled for next week — and the meetings being held so close.
But county legislature chairman David Knapp said they aren’t planning on drastic changes to district lines and this doesn’t need to get political.
“Our population didn’t change much, a few things here or there,” Knapp said. “This is not going to be a wholesale change of the lines. We’re just doing some tweaks here or there. This is not going to be a very difficult process.”
“The public should be involved in the drawing of these maps. And the fact that they’re putting these meetings, all of them, before the election — taking time and energy from the two elections commissioners — in a hope to push this map through, before the election, is tantamount to election interference,” Czarny argued.
Democratic candidates for county legislature also held a rally Wednesday, saying Republican leaders were trying to rush the process before the election.
