Political Grandstanding – Shameless But Unavoidable

by Contributor | October 16, 2023 1:42 pm

To the Editor,

I read with great interest and some surprise, the recent letter from Oswego County Legislator, Frank Castiglia Jr. I say it was with “some surprise” as I had very recently met with Legislator Castiglia and shown him in great detail, the software that Oswego County (and communities across America) use to draw legislative districts when needed. To explain the “need” further, every ten years, following the release of the most current census numbers, communities are required to ensure that there is an equitable balance of population in their respective election districts. The math is simple, total population divided by the number of districts. In our case that comes out to an average of 4,701 persons in each of our 25 County legislative districts. Understanding that each district must have identifiable boundaries (municipal lines, roads, railroad lines, etc.) the law allows for a slight variation in the actual population in each district up to no more than 2.5% over or under the target. Our average deviation is currently 1.12% in the draft map I shared with Legislator Castiglia.
In his recent letter to the editor, Legislator Castiglia claims that a process known as “gerrymandering” was used to draw the current draft map of County legislative districts. Webster defines gerrymandering as “the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections.” A practice/process that I explained to Legislator Castiglia, and hope to explain to you today, is simply not possible using the software program we work in. In simple terms, the software uses only data collected by the US Census Bureau and for those of you who have filled out those forms in the past, you will recall that they do not collect any data related to voter registrations or voter activity. They collect only numbers of people within a specific geographical area, as well as their ethnic and socio-economic status. Nothing about political parties or whether those people vote or not.

In short, we do our best to responsibly create a map that is fair and within the confines of the law. The software we use breaks our 968 square miles up into thousands of tiny segments (shapefiles) each one unique in its shape, size and the demographic data within it. No two are the same in any of those features. Legislator Castiglia is upset that the new draft plan has him representing only people in the City of Fulton and he will no longer represent folks in the Town of Volney. A correction that will save money for taxpayers in both Volney and the County. A goal that usually seems to be of high importance to him, just not this time.

Respectfully,

David Turner, Director
Office of Strategic Initiatives

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/political-grandstanding-shameless-but-unavoidable/

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