New York’s 27 congressional districts, currently

As the state heads towards a once-a-decade redrawing of state and federal districts in January 2022, it will be drawing lines for one less congressional district.

In the past, the politicians in the state Senate took on the job, but this time around it will fall to a new committee intended to avoid partisan goals while redrawing districts.

But already there are complications.

This November, New Yorkers will vote on a potential state constitutional amendment that would change the rules of that redistricting, giving more power to a party with a majority in the Senate and Assembly, which is currently the Democratic Party.

The amendment would change portions of another constitutional amendment voters passed in 2014. If passed, it would reduce the vote threshold needed for a one-party-led Legislature to approve plans submitted by the Independent Redistricting Commission from a two-thirds vote to a simple-majority vote.

New Yorkers approved the IRC in 2014 after a tense, partisan redistricting process following the 2010 census. The 2022 redistricting would be the first use of the 10-member IRC.

If this amendment is approved with a majority vote, the commission’s bipartisan makeup would remain the same, but Democrats in the Legislature could have more power to reject and maybe even redraw maps.

Redistricting is a contentious topic. Where district lines are drawn on a map can shift power to one party or another, eliminate a district or make it harder for a political party to win specific districts by cutting or adding areas of the district that lean more toward a certain political party.

Under the current rules, passed through the 2014 amendment, if the Assembly and Senate are controlled by different parties, the redistricting plan could be approved with a simple majority vote in both chambers. However, if one party controls both, as Democrats do now, the plan would need a two-thirds vote in both chambers for approval.

This proposed amendment would repeal that, making plan approval possible with a simple majority vote instead of a two-thirds vote, even when one party controls both chambers.

In any case, if the Legislature rejects two versions of the commission’s maps, it gains the right to draw up and pass maps of its own.

The proposal would also change the votes needed by the commission to send plans to the Legislature.

The commission is made up of non-politicians chosen by Legislature leaders of both major parties. It includes four chosen by Democrats, four chosen by Republicans and two chosen by the other eight.

Next year’s 10-member commission has already been chosen. Eight members are chosen by the majority and minority parties in the Senate and Assembly — two per party, per chamber. These members then choose two more commissioners who cannot be registered in the largest political parties — currently Republican and Democratic.