CALL TO ACTION:
Call your legislators or comment on the Florida Redistricting website now to demand fair maps!
As you know, redistricting is in full swing in the Florida Legislature. Call your legislators or comment on the Florida Districting website to demand fair maps. Read below for more information.
Status of Redistricting as of January 25, 2022
To fully understand this update and call to action you should read the background articles on our website.
Senate Map
The full Senate has voted 34 to 3 to approve a Senate district map - S8058. It is expected to be approved by the House, submitted to the Attorney General for review, and forwarded to the Florida Supreme Court for approval. An analysis of voting history predicts the new map will result in the election of 22 Republican and 18 Democratic Senators.
This map seems to unnecessarily divide Alachua County between two Senate districts. The map describes 40 districts, 5 are Black minority opportunity districts and 5 are Hispanic minority opportunity districts. The total population in each district is based on the 2020 census data but the number of Minority majority/opportunity districts was based on the 2010 census data.*
House Map
House Map, H8013, was approved by the House committee with all 13 Republicans voting in favor and all 7 Democrats voting against it. It will be submitted to the full House for a vote. It contains 120 districts and although the map is considered better than previous versions, it is still considered gerrymandered to give Republicans an advantage. There are a total of 30 minority majority/opportunity districts, but they are based on 2010 census data.* This map divides Alachua County among 3 districts.
Congressional Map
The Senate version of the Congressional map (C8060) was approved by the full Senate and based on prior voting history is likely to result in election of 16 Republicans and 12 Democrats. The map has 4 Black and 4 Hispanic opportunity districts.*
The House committee has not yet voted on the Congressional map it will send to the full House for approval. All the preliminary drafts published on the website are considered highly gerrymandered.
In an unprecedented move, the Governor has submitted a Congressional map - P0079. The governor's general counsel (GC) referred to “legal concerns” about the Senate map and claims this map expands minority voting opportunities and is more compliant with the Florida Constitution. This is not true. The governor's map would result in the election of 18 Republicans and 10 Democrats. It reduces the number of Black minority districts from 4 to 2 and the supposed Hispanic districts are unlikely to allow Hispanic voters to elect representatives of their choice. The Florida redistricting process gives the Governor the opportunity to approve the Congressional map and the language being used by the GC alludes to a possible veto.
* The districts have been redrawn using the population from the 2020 census. But the Senate and House have maintained the same number of minority districts as in our current maps, which were drawn using the 2010 census data. Florida’s population has increased by more than 2.7 million people, enough for Florida to be awarded an additional seat in the House of Representatives! Over 90% of the growth in our population was categorized as “non-white” with most of the increase in new residents being categorized as Hispanic/Latino. To comply with the Florida Constitution, the number of minority districts should have been determined before map drawing began.
It’s Time for Advocacy
Please go to the Florida Redistricting website and tell our legislators that they need to draw fair maps. It will be most helpful for you to comment on the House and Congressional maps. You can comment on both maps in the same message, or if you have time, submit two separate comments one for the House map and another for the Congressional map but be sure to cite the specific concern(s) about the map(s). Tell them the maps should not favor one party over another and the population data for 2020 should be evaluated to ensure fair representation by minority voters, and tell House members to put Alachua County into no more than two House districts.
The link to the section for you to submit your comments is here. Fill in the information requested and indicate your collaborator is the League of Women Voters of Alachua County.
Thank you for your quick action submitting comments in support of fair districts!
Lynn Frazier
Diane Dimperio is the LWVAC Redistricting Contact and Lynn Frasier is the LWVAC President. If you would like more information or to get involved, please reach out to info [at] lwv-alachua.org.
